


The diffrence

by Midnight1890



Series: Zelganangans [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Babies, Beast Form, Breath of the wild chracters, Complicated Relationships, Confused Ganondorf, Confused Link, Crying, Death!, Explicit Language, F/M, Family Secrets, Fluff, Ganondork, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Light BDSM, M/M, Minor Character Death, Miscarriage, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Pregnant Sex, Premarital Sex, Reunions, Secret Relationship, Secrets, Shameless Smut, Smut, Stillbirth, Teenager Ganondorf, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threats of Violence, Unplanned Pregnancy, War, Weddings, good(ish) ganondorf, human ganondorf!, more to come - Freeform, rivalries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2020-05-29 14:23:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19402123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnight1890/pseuds/Midnight1890
Summary: Zelganagins 2: Electric Boogaloo.





	1. Reunited

_Queen Zelda,_

_In one week's time I wish to meet with you about some urgent news regarding personal matters. Meet me in your southern rose garden at twilight, inform whomever you wish but come alone to this meeting. My news is not for the prying ear of nosy noblemen or guards. The matter is to remain between the two of us._

_Respecfully,_

_Ganondorf_

Three days since he had sent his letter to the queen of Hyrule in the grip of his swift personal messenger hawk, the animal returned to him landing on an outstretched gloved wrist whose owner sat atop a colossal black horse with a fiery red mane and blood-red eyes. The beast of a horse strode across the rolling desert hills. Typically Ganondorf would have had an Entourage accompanying him for this type of meeting yet the news he had come to bear was so personal not even his sister's or healers could know.

Sand sprinkled under each step the horse's hooves took. The sands hissed as they were disrupted from their resting place much the way his thoughts were twisted from his calm demeanor.

In the hawk's clutches was a scroll of parchment wrapped in a violet ribbon and stamped with the seal of Zelda herself, rather than the standard stamp of Hyrule. The bird had been successful. Ganondorf took the scroll from his companion setting the creature on his shoulder as he unraveled the parchment and gazed upon the text scrawled into it in deep violet ink.

_Ganondorf,_

_I have informed my personal guard as well as Link that I am to attend a meeting in one week's time at twilight as you requested, but I have seen to it we will not be disturbed. May your journey prove uneventful, and may you arrive safely. You may stable your horse and any of your tribe members horses in my personal stable outside of the western wing of the palace. I will inform my stable hands that you are expected._

_Regards,_

_Queen Zelda Hyrule._

Ganondorf snorted, his mind stirring with the discontent of her lack of trust, excitement to see the queen again after all this time and looming still dread, and slipped the letter into a saddlebag. Four more days until he reached the city of Hyrule. Two more days of his desert home. One day of traversing the canyon between the two kingdoms and one more racing across the open fields of Hyrule itself. He settled so he sat straight up on the back of his steed gazing imperiously at the outline of the canyon in the distance.

"Let's go Shadowmane."

****

Four days later, just as expected, Ganondorf stomped up the ornate marble stairs that surrounded Hyrule Palace. In any other circumstance, the city around him would be in flames, and his face would be painted with a smirk as he took his place as the new ruler of Hyrule. Today, in this life, however, the city was peaceful while basked in the twilight, markets closing, and the red light district and bars showing the abundance of life in the city. 

Tonight Ganondorf's mossy green face which was halved down the center with a prominent green nose, and centered by blazing amber eyes, wore a deep-set frown. Not because of the signs of life around him, the lack of destruction, and the _normality_ of it. No, his scowl was because he would have to see _her_ again. This time the war was not around him. It was inside him threatening to eat him from the inside out. After fifteen years apart, he was conflicted about how he felt seeing her again. His heavy armor weighed on him, yet, much like the rose garden around him, he felt flickers of excitement and anticipation spark inside him. 

The thirty-six-year-old, seven and a half feet tall, had a long mane of fire-colored hair that touched the ground and nearly three hundred pounds of muscle. Ganondorf was something else among the five or occasionally six-foot-tall Hylians with blonde or brown hair that was kept short and straight. But this visit was not about him, it was about his son.

His son should not exist, not until death loomed around the corner and he needed a new body to continue his destiny. But then, the circumstances of the boy's birth had not been standard. The boy turned seventeen in five weeks and had no idea who his real parents were even when Ganondorf had protected him since the boy was too small to remember what the boy's father had sacrificed for him.

Now, after fifteen years, Ganondorf had made the journey across the desert and into enemy territory, to see his best nightmare again. He wanted nothing more than to turn back and hide in the safety of the sands, but his news was too important, his mission critical to his son's well being, even his survival, for his father to be a coward.

Ganondorf opened a shadowy portal to the other side of a rose hedge that walled off acres of a rose garden with a sparkling ornate three-level fountain in the center and a light cobblestone path that trailed its way around the fountain and the garden, leading to several ornate metal benches and statues of famous rulers, scientists, philosophers and who else's.

The only other person in the garden with him was standing across from him, her delicate fingers cupping a rose between them. The single woman he had dreaded and yet yearned to see. She had waist-long brown hair, silver eyes, stood at five feet tall, and barely more than one hundred pounds. She wore an ethereal white dress that ruffled in strange places, and her long pointed ears were studded in golden bands that countered his own jeweled ears that had multiple diamond patterns and darker colors. Her face was trying not to smile, and her hands rested as fists on her hips. One look at her took his breath away and filled his chest with warmth after so long of icy temperatures. He was livid at this little woman. Yet something about her struck him breathless.

 _What are you thinking? Get a grip on yourself!_ he thought to himself and shook the daze away, steeling himself.

"You've... grown." Queen Zelda observed after a long second.

"Fifteen years does that to a man." He grunted folding his arms over his chest.

"Are you judging me for being born a woman?" She snarled. This was a wound that still festered from her father's misogynistic reign

"You know I wouldn't do that." He assured her, in all their spats, not once had he considered himself her superior due to gender. Other reasons, sure but never gender.

"Gan..." Her face dropped, and shoulders slumped after a long moment of looking him over. "I've missed you." She breathed.

"Should have thought about that when you left." He sneered. She flinched and opened her mouth to say something but ultimately just bit her lip sadly. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

"I'm-" She steeled herself, straightening her back and holding her hands in front of her, preparing to cast a defensive spell should he advance on her aggressively, "I will not apologize for what I had to do for the good of both our kingdoms!" She said tilting her chin up and slightly away from him.

"What about what was good for us?!" He flung his arms out in frustration. Shadows dancing along with his fingertips, if she wanted a fight, she would get one.

"Rulers must put others before themselves Ganondorf. That's what you fail to understand." She replied, her hair turning a vibrant gold. Anymore more magic on either side and they would be killing one another.

"Maybe 'others' need to learn how to fend for themselves." He spat back.

Suddenly her defenses dropped. "Gan, we're better than this," she whispered though she looked up at him cautiously in case he sprang at her.

"Are we?" His eyes narrowed.

"Yes. We are leaders of civilizations, not untamed beasts fighting for territory." She met his gaze steady and unwavering.

A let out a long sigh escaped from his nose. "Fine. But this does not mean I am happy about it." He said letting the shadows disperse into the night sky.

"I would not expect you to be." She folded her arms over her chest. "I trust your harem has come a long way?" She smirked impishly

"Has yours not?" His harem was none of her business.

"No." She agreed.

"Really? Because you look like your attending a ceremony." He found himself bristling at the thought despite himself.

"And you look like a hedgehog that just woke up from hibernation." She replied evenly. "It is Link's eighteenth birthday tonight, that is what I am dressed for." She continued.

"Link gets a party, yet my son does not?" He hissed baring sharp teeth and lunging, so he was inches away from her face.

"Our son." She backed away a little, but he followed.

"You did nothing to raise him!" The bigger man forced his fury back down his throat.

"And did you?"

"More than you!"

"You know as well as I do why we can't do that," she whispered, changing the subject and forcing herself to meet his fiery gaze. "If I could, I would." He snarled, but her hands reached up and tangled in his beard. "For every second you have hurt, I have hurt infinitely as much." She assured him, She pressed their foreheads together, "I understand your anger and frustration."

_Why did you have to tear me apart to learn that?_

"If you did you wouldn't have left," he growled.

"I did what I needed to, I regret what I had to give for it, but this war. My people need a ruler, and yours need a father."

"Our child needs his parents." Ganondorf's ears flattened against his head.

"What news have you brought of him?" Zelda demanded at first, but her words softened. Her eyes darting over his body, reading him, "He is well, isn't he?"

"Yes." Ganondorf rolled his eyes at the changes in the subject. Zelda did that when she knew she was losing the argument. "He wishes to join your guard." He replied slowly.

"The war-" she shook her head and blinked sadly at him, "As much as I miss our son, I've missed you too." She admitted again, arms snaking to behind his ears and wrapping around his neck.

He sighed, and his resolve crumbled, his arms slipped around her waist and held her close to him for a long moment. "I should go..." He grunted as he pulled away.

"Wait..." Her breath hitched, "Please stay."

"Why?" He asked, forcing himself to stay calm, what could she possibly want from him? 

"I-" She swallowed thickly, "I need you, now more than ever, I need someone I can trust to give me the honest truth, to tell me plainly when I'm making stupid choices, I just..." She let go of him to hug herself and looked at the ground, "I'm scared, Gan. I'm losing this war because I am no tactician. I don't have the prowess in a battle that you do. I am wise enough to know I need help, both on a personal level and as the ruler of Hyrule." Zelda's voice broke down, she stared at the floor, dark trails staining her gorgeous face.

He was still livid at her, but without meaning to, he pulled her closer to his cold but sturdy armor relieved when she held onto him again. It tore him apart to see her like this, she usually was so composed, thought things out with logic, not emotion yet here she was. One of her tiny hands came up to his comparatively massive shoulder. She shuddered, "I've got you." He promised. "What do you want me to do?" he pressed his face into her hair, she was just how he remembered her, her scent sweet like honeysuckle and her body small and easily broken yet durable in its own right.

Zelda thought her next question through before she said it. "My people are in a war we cannot win." She admitted finally, her eyes glinted with sadness and despair that she had to turn to a generational enemy for help. "We need your help."


	2. Relapse

As soon as Zelda had seen Ganondorf again, she had known he was the solution to all her problems. He was the best tactician in the world, which didn't hold a candle to his combat prowess. He and his warriors could turn the tide against these damn nameless, faceless enemies who were burning cities to the ground so thoroughly that not even cattle or family pets survived.

This war was driving her insane, more than the decision to leave Ganondorf and their child behind. At least that had seemed like the only choice she had. Now millions, if not hundreds of millions of lives were at stake if she failed a kingdom was doomed. But for tonight, the whole country was taking a deep breath in and relaxing. It was the Hero of Time's eighteenth birthday, after all. Zelda had led Ganondorf into the castle and guided him to a study, so they sat across from each other around a desk, a little awkward sure, but not so bad, and much more comfortable.

"About earlier..." Zelda dared to bring up the one thing on her mind that had been persistent all evening. 

"You mean the news about Atko?" Ganondorf dared speak the boy's name for the first time that night.

Both their bodies relaxed some yet tensed somehow. "How is he?" She demanded warmth filling her chest. Dread suddenly froze over her excitement, he wanted to join her guard...

"He is well. He turns seventeen in a few weeks."

"May I see him?" Zelda tried to ask but ended up demanding again. Taking his palm off the table and pressing it to her forehead, he had the power to bestow knowledge in the form of memories to another, the idea being knowledge is power, an ability that she had known about since Atko had been born.

"It'll hurt to see him grown up without us," Ganondorf warned, "but I can tell you he has grown into a fine young man."

"Let me see my son," Zelda ordered.

Ganondorf sighed the triforce on the back of his palm began to glow and her vision blacked out.

_Now in the darkness all she could see was the image of a tall young man with long thick red hair that was braided as Gerudo typically did. It was long in three rows adorned with jewels and beads that Ganondorf had once told her represented different things depending on color and shape. His skin was a light olive color. Strange for a Gerudo and his eyes were a cool silver rather than the amber of his tribemates, his form was slim yet muscular and his face was drawn taut over the bones of his face to make him look older and wiser than he actually was but all in all he was handsome and shared very visible Hylian traits, and clear Gerudo blood._

Ganondorf was right, it was excruciating to see the man who had once been her baby all grown up without his mother to face his life trials despite how well he seemed to be doing. Zelda's eyes flooded with tears as the image dispersed. "Gan..." She croaked.

"I know. I know." He tried to soothe, she shivered but forced herself not to cry. He had warned her after all. 

"What are we going to do? I can't lose my only child to this stupid war!" Zelda racked her brain for a solution. 

"Well..." Ganondorf thought for a moment, "unless you want to tell him his true heritage, which I don't think anyone is ready for, you have to let the boy enlist, now that doesn't mean you can't station him as a royal guard so he goes where you go and you can keep an eye on him where I can not--"

 _Ah, Ganondorf the tactician-warrior-diplomat._ Zelda had to remind herself when his tone became very matter-of-fact. "Let's do it that way." She stated firmly. "I'll tell my generals as well as Link to keep an eye out for him. Thank you."

Ganondorf stared at her a second but seemed to realize she was set on her choice and nodded agreement. "Very well. I will set off to the desert and leave your people to their celebrations." He rose from his comparatively tiny chair and stretched a little

Zelda panicked, he was about to leave! The solution to all her problems, back to the desert where she may not see him again for another fifteen years, maybe even ever! "Gan!" She jumped up faster than she intended. "Don't go..." She pleaded, "I need you."

He gazed down at her with pity, confusion, anger and heartbreak written on his face. "You should have thought about that when you left." He muttered for the second time that night and stood up fully

"Ganondorf!" Zelda almost whimpered, "I already said I was sorry!" She pleaded. She swallowed thickly, it was now or never. "My people are at war with a foe we don't know how to fight Ganondorf, we're being annihilated whole cities are razed and just... wiped off the map, nothing is left, no survivors no cattle no pets, no books or other texts nothing," she admitted. "They have great machines that crush everything in their path."

He at least had the decency to look a little surprised before he smirked but he almost looked hurt at the same time somehow. "Pathetic little Hylians hiding behind their walls and getting absolutely crushed. Classic." He purred.

"You don't have to be a jerk about it!" She complained.

"Why not? This is why you have a hard time standing me, you never change tactics and you pray to your silly little goddess that your walls and towers will protect you from something so big that it sees your 'walls' as little more than a cobblestone path." He pointed out. Zelda could almost feel steam blow out her ears, he had a point. They had encountered issues with Ganondorf's massive boar aspect due to similar problems but she had never thought of changing strategies.

"What would you suggest?" She resigned herself to put up with his snarky attitude for this one if it meant she could turn the tides, or maybe get him to help out more personally.

"Read a tactics book," He offered.

"Jackass!" She growled and he shrugged, then an idea struck her "Okay, how about this, you can leave no and do nothing, let Hyrule get wiped off the map, loose your only son to a war you could have stopped." She began, _here goes_ She was a little concerned he was going to get angry at her for this but she was wise enough to know when she needed help, and how to get it. "Once we're gone the war is going to come to your doorstep, slaughter your people and you will have no way to stop it. Your other choice is to stay, help me, us my resources and my troops and help me win this, as allies." That got his attention, appealing to his pride or even challenging him.

His smug grin dropped into a scowl, he pondered, stalking around the study, brow knitted together and eyes blazing, he was debating with himself. Zelda wanted to keep talking but forced herself to hold her tongue, he was going to weigh both in his mind, argue with himself. Think, strategize, his arms folded behind his back as his thoughts sped up, finally he stopped "Fine," he hissed between his teeth, "But I want full control over your troops and full access to the castle grounds, chambers of my own, space for my warriors and, a private stable for Shadowmane." He stated his terms flatly, they were going to be met or there was no deal.

Zelda pondered over this, hiding how delighted she was that he was willing to help at all much less commit his own warriors to the cause. "Very well. I can arrange that on one condition: you still answer to me, anything you plan must be approved by me first." She agreed after a moment pondering. 

"Deal." Ganondorf shifted his weight to glare at her straight on, "I also am going to examine this party of yours. I need to know what I'm working with." He waited just long enough to see her nod before he vanished in a puff of smoke

She stared after him hoping she didn't just make a huge mistake.


	3. Hero of time, just not this time

Link was having a blast at his eighteenth birthday party, there was more food than even he could eat, dancing, drinking, sounds of laughter and cheer after so many months of dreary talk of doomsday. Tonight however commoners and nobles alike mingled freely and relaxed. This made Link feel amazing to see his friends taking a deep breath and letting go, at least for a few hours.

Then he saw it. 

At first, he thought it had just been an illusion, a trick of the eye or something but no, sitting atop Zelda's throne, was a mass of shadows, the only reason he fit in the golden throne was because Zelda's father had weighed an easy three hundred pounds and it was not muscle as the shadow's weight was.

Ganondorf was lounging in Zelda's throne, one leg crossed over the other one arm on the armrest while the other propped him up on it and he idely ran a claw-tipped finger along the surfaces sharp teeth bared in a large grin.

Link froze in place, what was _he_ doing here? Where was Zelda? She was rarely late to events, much rarer tardy to events she had arranged. Link's huge blue eyes scanned the crowd of dancing people and then he found her. She was limping a little bit but she looked like she was having fun dancing with the tall ruby red Zora, Prince Sidon, but she kept looking up at Ganondorf's shadow cloud that hid him from everyone but Link and Zelda, the other Triforce wielders being the only others able to see through their clever disguises. Their expression twoards one another as they contemplated the other seemed to darken each passing glance they spared one another 

_What in the world was going on here?_

Link weaved his way through the crowd so he and Prince Sidon swapped partners. "My Queen..." Link hissed under his breath to get her attention, her gray eyes finally breaking contact, when they switched position so Link could see Ganondorf again he saw that the massive Gerudo King's face had dropped into a scowl, "What is Ganondorf doing here?" He asked harshly when her eyes tried to dart back up to the Demon King.

"That's not your problem Link." She replied her eyes still darting up to the cloud of shadows.

"He's crashing my party! That makes him my problem! Not to mention he's ya know, Ganondorf!" Link argued, he was mad she was being so wishy-washy about this. "and I thought I was your friend! Not to mention personal bodyguard! It's my duty to keep you safe! Specifically from the monster who's been terrorizing us for generations that I've had to kill time and time again." Ganondorf, the king who waged war on Zelda's people had the audacity to show up at Link's party and sit upon Zelda's throne gazing down at her like she was prey to be stalked, and she was going to let him get away with it?

Zelda glared at him, "Hush, he's here per my request." She told him, "And he's not hurting anybody."

"You're limping." Link observed, "So he must have."

Zelda rolled her eyes, "No." Her tone said that the conversation was over, and was backed by another partner switch.

Link's new partner was a tall man with flaming red hair and olive green skin. Link had to do a double-take but was quickly relaxed when he realized that this man had Zelda's silver eyes rather than Ganondorf's amber, but suddenly realized this was a male Gerudo that wasn't Ganondorf. "Hi!" The man purred, "Hope you're having a good birthday party!" 

Link stared at him, "I'm sorry, have we met before?" He asked, not sure why he was so drawn to how majestic this guy seemed, he had all the grace Gerudo did, specifically Ganondorf, yet was sleek and swift like a Hylian.

"Nope. But everyone knows who you are!" The man reasoned cheerfully.

This made Link relax some, he was right, "Oh, sorry. Hi! Name's Link, what's yours?" This dance was much more of a swing type, rather than the slower dance of before.

"Name's Atko." The man replied, holding onto Link's hand as he went twirling out as directed by the crowd, "I just moved into town like yesterday so I figured I'd drop by a party to see if I could make some friends."

Link chuckled, "Well mission accomplished!" Link liked this guy, he had just met him but he was drawn to him, he couldn't have been much older than Link was, and to meet a male Gerudo who wasn't Ganondorf was a rather curious thing. Now it was the other man's turn to spin and Link was surprised by the hidden strength he had, almost pulling Link with him by mistake.

Atko beamed, "Really? Thank you!" His deep purr of a voice went strangely high pitched and his cheeks flushed, "Uhm. Sorry."

Link laughed than, "Don't worry about it, happens to everyone, go get some water." He advised when Atko nodded and went to the table absolutely covered in food and drinks of all stripes he forced himself to return to the problem at hand. He broke away from the crowd and stomped up to the throne shrouded in shadows.

As Link approached, watching Ganondorf's muscles ripple in time to his breathing and his gaze still trained to Queen Zelda and he didn't notice Link approach, Link was pleased by this but fury still boiled in his chest. He called his sword to his palm and with a small glint of blue light, the hilt appeared in his hand, the rest of the stainless steel appearing a moment later. Link silently and pressed the blade against Ganondorf's throat. "You have three seconds to get off that throne and give me a good reason to not kill you." This was _Zelda's_ kingdom, not his, he had no right to be sitting upon her throne while she still drew breath.

Ganondorf jumped but collected himself quickly, the shadowy veil fading from around him so he was visible to the unaided eye. "I was going to let you live." he sneered, "and you wouldn't kill at your own party would you?"

Link sighed, "Then we take this out to the hall." He was forced to agree. Ganondorf nodded and took the lead, shouldering his way out of a door to the left of the throne which opened up into an unoccupied circular sunroom, the roof made of glass panels and tiles covered in warm violet carpet and a circle of couches around a glass coffee table.

Ganondorf summoned a blade of shadows to him. His armor seemed to fit the demon king well, its proportions etched just so the finer parts of his build were protected, yet shown off a tad. He and Link than stared at each other for a long while.

Ganondorf and Link circled each other like wolves, keeping the furniture between them. Link attacked first throwing his small body over the couch nearest to him and swinging at Ganondorf's chest but with the grace Atko had shown, Ganondorf slipped out of the way and swung with an open palm, clawed gauntlets ripping through Link's light green shirt and tore into his skin knocking him into a wall.

The younger man leaped to his feet and attacked again, this time he connected with something, but the Master Sword didn't quite hit its mark, instead, it sliced a massive chunk out of Ganondorf's long red hair which infuriated the man more than the body slam to the chest did. "Little runt!" He roared stomping the boy into the ground as Link began to fall from his charge, tusks began to spiral out of the Gerudo king's mouth and his eyes were only amber pools, pupilless and inhuman. Link groaned as the pain hit him all at once, Ganondorf had definitely just broken a rib, if not a handful. Link grabbed at his sword and lashed up at Ganondorf as he came to plunge his shadow blade into Link's eye. For being double Link's age, he moved with the speed of a dancer.

This time, Link landed a solid blow in Ganondorf's chest getting golden blood for his efforts as well as deterring the blade inches away from the boy's face.

Ganondorf snarled in pain and suddenly shadowy shackles pinned Link's limbs to the ground, and pain searing into him like the chains were made of fire. Ganondorf set his foot on Link's chest to hold him still and brought his blade of shadow to bear over Ganondorf's head preparing to plunge it down.

Then the blade vanished into the air and Ganondorf removed his foot while the chains faded, "Stay down, or I may not have the same mercy." He warned darkly and hovered over him, "Violence will not fix any problems."

Link gasped and his brain registered that he had not only lived but Ganondorf was going to talk it through with him. "Who's interrogating who?" Link asked breathlessly.

"Go ahead, I'll interject as I need to," Ganondorf said stepping away and flopping down on a couch that creaked in pain under his weight.

"Why are you here?" Link decided to start easy.

"I came to deliver news to the Queen. She later asked me to help your people win your war." Link wasn't sure if he believed the King of Thieves but Zelda was getting desperate about this war so it was possible.

"What did you do to her?" Link tried not to make it an accusation but it definitely came out that way.

To the boy's surprise, Ganondorf laughed at this, "Nothing I wasn't asked to."

"Okay ew." Link felt bile rising in his throat at the image he got, this was his best friend since he was a baby sleeping with his worst enemy. "I'm sorry I asked." He hated that Ganondorf huffed as though amused at this response. Link had no doubt Ganondorf was mending his wounds with shadowy magic where Link couldn't see the grizzly regeneration but it pleased him to know that Ganondorf's hair wasn't growing back anytime soon. 

Ganondorf snorted, "I wish."

"What was with the whole party thing? You guys are acting like you had a baby or something, not just...whatever it is that happened."

Ganondorf nearly choked, "The Queen and I have gone back longer than you've been alive little boy. Remember that." 

Link paused to process it, her father had always been angry at Zelda for something until the day he died, and Zelda had been more distracted this life than others. "What news did you come to deliver?"

"It doesn't involve you." Ganondorf mused quietly. 

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked finally.

"Because I'd rather not have you attempting to kill me." Ganondorf replied, "That and I'm sticking around for at least a few days so we might as well be on the same page, we don't have to get along, just tolerate one another."

"I see..." Link thought this over, he was going to have to follow up with Zelda about all of this. "Very well." He said finally, "Get me a nurse and I'll call us even."

Ganondorf snorted but wandered back off to the party and a few minutes later a nurse found him and took him to the medical wing of the castle. Link found himself stunned beyond most emotion, he wasn't sure what to think about this. Ganondorf had been pretty honest as far as Link knew and he hadn't killed the boy, but old memories warned Link that the Demon King was not to be trusted.


	4. Bridges built

Ganondorf had realized, as soon as Link had struck him with that cursed blade and drew blood, that Ganondorf _needed_ Zelda. Ganondorf had begun to feel the flicker in his heart when he saw Atko in the crowd of partygoers and while Ganondorf had suspected the boy had a preference for men but hadn't had any evidence to confirm it until he saw how Atko had looked at Link with such wonder and adoration that Ganondorf was pretty sure he knew his son's sexuality seconds before Atko did. The boy had looked so happy despite not knowing anyone in attendance. Ganondorf had felt the flicker again as a spark when he had seen Zelda dancing, with others granted, but the way she had looked at him, it felt like she had been dancing for _him_

Then Link had challenged him for his life and that had restarted the fire in Ganondorf's heart for the Hylian Queen.

After finding someone to tend to Link's comparatively minimal injuries, Ganondorf slipped into the crowd and weaved until he got to dance with Zelda, two leaders taking a dance together was not uncommon, especially since the news had gotten around he would be helping the war effort. Zelda smiled broadly at him and offered a hand to him, he took it gingerly and kissed the knuckles which made her laugh a sweet noise that he wanted to hear grace his ears for the rest of the minutes he had left to give. She tugged him to her not minding the onlookers at the strange coupling, "Know how to dance?" She nearly challenged with a playful once-over.

"It's been fifteen years Queen Zelda," Ganondorf replied keeping his voice cool. She nodded and showed him where to put his hands, one on the curve of her hip the other on the small of her back her hands darted up to his shoulders while her feet slid across the wooden tile floor to guide their movements. Once they both got comfortable with the flow of their movements one of her hands moved down to his hand on her hip and twined their fingers together, resting them on his chest between them helping guide his movements while refusing to let go of his fingers. Ganondorf felt a little silly doing a Hylian slow dance, his body was built for the Gerudo dances that required full-body movement rather than the focused movements in the calves and thighs and more on the feet that nearly knocked him off balance but if it made Zelda happy he was happy to oblige. He dropped his gaze to the tiny woman curled in the crescent of his body, he helped do a twirl by holding her hand while she circled, "Beautiful queen." He purred, she smiled and her cheeks flushed. He caught her side in his palm as she twisted back into his arms and pulled her close, leaning in to whisper in her pointed ear. "We need to renegotiate, and talk."

She gasped returning her hands to the front of his shoulders, "Yes." She breathed, "but we should talk, alone. Meet me in my chambers, fifteen minutes, give me a moment to excuse myself."

Ganondorf nodded and slipped away into the crowd as silent and sleek as he came. Talking alone in her chambers? Scandalous. He vanished in a cloud of shadow and appearing in Zelda's bedroom. It was fairly decorated, the furniture made of heavy oak wood, the door shrouded by a lavender-colored curtain of silk. The large stained glass window that overlooked her rose garden was currently covered in a thick wine-colored curtain, this color was the same as the color of her favorite wine, a Gerudo specialty, imported quite rarely due to its cost, he wondered briefly if she had had it in the fifteen years they had been apart or if she remembered the color well even to describe it to another flawlessly. The floor was textured by a fluffy royal purple carpet that liked to tickle bare feet in the chill of night. The abundance of the violets and purples gave Ganondorf the idea he knew Zelda's preference in color, though among others were red, green and blue but then those were the triforce colors so he wasn't sure if it was a real preference or just sheer exposure.

He took a seat on the fluffy mattress with red sheets and a rainbow of small yet luxurious pillows also imported from the Gerudo desert. They had buttons sewed in the middle and strands of silk coming off along the borders of each pillow. Ganondorf smiled as he recognized the craftsmanship behind each one, knowing who had created these luxuries.

Ganondorf sighed and laid back on the pillow arrangement. As much as the now healed slash in his chest had hurt, his pride was more damaged to the forcible cutting through his mane, it had only gone about halfway through the width of the last few inches so no real damage occurred, and it would regrow in time. For the time being, he idely twirled it around a finger before summoning a knife of shadows and slicing through what was left of the width of damaged hair, the remaining of the mane was still long and luxurious thankfully. He took the new end and braided it off until it could grow back, tossing the cut hair into a basket where Zelda discarded unwanted items and set the braid on his shoulder, folding his arms behind his head, his eyes closed and the knife vanished.

He must have fallen asleep because when his eyes opened again he was staring into the big gray eyes of Hyrule's queen. "Hi, you big sleepy boy!" She purred sitting next to him. Ganondorf smirked to himself a bit, he hadn't seen her like this for a long time. He went to roll onto her and win the tussle, but with an additional hundred pounds of armor he would squish Zelda. Instead he playfully knocked her off of him into the sheets and pressed his head into her side. Part of him was grateful for the armor, it forced himself to not take the encounter father than laying together for a few minutes.

Ganondorf figured he knew exactly what he needed to say in order to have her body again but forced himself to hold his tongue. "You wanted to talk?" He ground out eventually.

Zelda nodded and sat up gently pushing the bigger man back as she did. "Yes... and as much as I'd like the privacy of my chambers... the bed is too tempting for us. Let's take a walk."

Ganondorf agreed. Her chambers would be here when they got back he was sure. Zelda still in her gown from the party. So with a little bit of fussing and brushing down of wild hair, the pair looked like civilized leaders again, rather than sleep-deprived, lusting creatures.

The stepped out from the dark wood doors into a narrow corridor, the walls were littered in portraits of old ruler stretching many generations back, no advisors were depicted on this all but Ganondorf knew they had them. Somewhere else assumably. The most recent portrait was Zelda's father, an old pudgy excuse of a man with black beady eyes and balding silver hair. About a decade dead now if Ganondorf remembered correctly. "Do you not find it odd to have your ancestors silently observing everything you do?"

"Oh, the portraits?" She asked giggling and taking his hand in her own. "They only watch this hallway." She explained. "Maybe someday they'll spread to other corridors. But for now, they are contained here." She smiled to herself, "I know it sounds weird to say but the one thing I am glad about, is every time you sac the castle, we forget to add one or two of the old rulers back to the portraits."

Ganondorf's ears flicked. "You don't like your history?" He asked, making a note to himself to ask his people to start framing his betas on the wall for everyone to behold and remember with the reverence he had for them. 

"It's not that I don't like my people's history." She replied, "It's that I hate being compared to the past Zelda's or even my great grandfathers. I get to be my own person, my advisors don't understand why I hate their comparisons so much."

Ganondorf racked his brain for any time he had vocally compared her to past lives, he couldn't remember any incident where he had but he didn't think it important until now, "Sorry if I've ever done that." He decided to play it safe on this one. He didn't want another fight.

"You don't do it so much." She shrugged, "and when you do its much more complimentary than the others. I'll tell you if you're getting on my nerves though,"

"Works for me." Ganondorf concurred. "So what exactly should I come prepared for with this war? Are we trying to attack them and hold them where they are or defend what you have left?" He asked he was trying to get an image on how to plan for this. Hylians were many in number but lacked skill. Gerudo were well-disciplined and powerful but very limited in number. 

"Both." She replied, "I want to be able to defend against any attacks they may have and then reclaim my lands again." She explained, "but my priority is keeping my civilians safe." Ganondorf nodded. He ould need Teako's war-band then. They were skill siege breakers and defenders. For the offensive side... Kindra's party would be perfect. Ambushers and skilled fighters they could turn the tide on almost any battle they were thrown in. Two parties would do just fine.

"Take me to where my people are going to be housed." He tried not to make it sound like an order but he needed to get them situated. Zelda thankfully didn't take offense and guided him to here the traveling nobleman chambers, the selection of rooms pleased him, his people were not shoved into the servants quarters or outside of the palace but in some of the nicest rooms available. A Hylian woman with a long braid of white hair approached the pair while they examined the rooms, "My Queen." She greeted coolly.

"Impa." Zelda replied, "How have the preparations gone?"

"We are just tidying up now." Impa reported and more quietly whispered, "Though with Gerudo drinking habits I don't think it'll matter."

"You could say the same about Hylians." Ganondorf retorted crossly. Gerudo weren't the only ones who drank too much! Impa glared at him but was smart enough to shut her mouth. "Hold on I need to go get my troops." He muttered and stalked around a corner in order to do so. He opened a portal to the village where Teako's Warband lived. Stepping through and felt a blast of hot air hit his skin. _home_ he smiled to himself, not really noticing or caring for that matter, when Zelda got curious and followed through the portal he held open so his troops could return to the palace.

"Can I ask why you didn't do this in the first place and spare yourself the trip?" Zelda asked as they made their way through the streets of the town. It wasn't crowded right now, late 

"It's considered rude to just show up unannounced. I think I would have been attacked on the spot. Besides, I'll need my horse here in Hyrule and I can't take him through the portals, and frankly, it's fucking exhausting to hold that thing open, much less twice in one day." Ganondorf retorted stomping up the sand-colored adobe staircase whose steps were massive compared to those in Hyrule, Ganondorf cleared them with ease but Zelda struggled because she was used to the height and depth of her stairs versus these ones meant for taller people. Ganondorf stepped up on a large podium in the center of town, it wasn't really a podium but rather a large rock that jutted out of the ground that he made announcements from. "Stay down here." Ganondorf advised at the base of the rock.

"No, I want to go up there with you!" Had she been in Hyrule it would have been an order, but she had no power here.

"You know how I was just saying that if you show up to someone's kingdom uninvited..."

"I'm not-" 

"To me maybe you're not uninvited but the girls won't see it that way," Ganondorf warned. Zelda huffed and stayed at the base of the rock. "Thank you." He said as he reached the peak of the rock. Then much louder he turned to the town itself. Already a few shadows gathered under the tapestries that during the day, protected from the sun. "Warriors of U'laf! Gather here beneath the stars for a town meeting!"


	5. Past deeds

Ganondorf's voice carried and almost instantly the shadows appeared, bathed in the moonlight was Ganondorf's sister's in arms. Moss green skin, dark amber eyes and flaming red hair being the traits that all Gerudo had in common. Seemingly hundreds of these women gathered beneath the stone and every single one Ganondorf had sired at one point or another. 

"It's late Ganondorf!" One woman called up to him. "Some of us have daughters we just put to bed!" 

Ganondorf nodded. "I understand and I will be swift." He replied. "My friends... Hyrule is locked in a war they cannot win alone." He began.

"Good!" Someone huffed from the crowd, "Finally they will get what they deserve."

"Now hold on..." Ganondorf started.

 _They hate us..._ Zelda realized 

"They never should have banished us from our homes!"

"They never should have cursed us!"

"They call us thieves when they stole our future!" 

"Our children die in the heat or starve like dogs because of them!"

 _And hate us for good reason._ She figured, but then her people hated the Gerudo, _My people need to hate Ganondorf, not punish the other Gerudo... But he can change. I know he can._

"Ladies..." Ganondorf silenced them by raising his hands placatingly, Zelda wasn't sure if he was trying to be firm or pleading with them, as his tone sounded firm but his body language sure wasn't. "I understand your frustration, more than anyone. But it is our duty to show them that we are not the thieves and uncaring creatures they believe us to be-"

"You're seriously considering helping them?"

"Get our people killed for their stupid war?"

"Why don't we just finish the job? Take back what's rightfully ours!"

Ganondorf went to speak again but a pair of women appeared from behind Ganondorf, pushing through a silk curtain that presumably was Ganondorf's living arrangement for when he visited the town. "Let him speak." One of the women ordered tapping her golden laced spear on the ground to silence the others. Each woman took opposite sides of Ganondorf's rock. The woman who spoke didn't acknowledge Zelda as she d but the other did, this was the wise woman who had helped Zelda give birth to Atko, the wise woman touched her arm soothingly as she took her place.

"Thank you Teako." Ganondorf sighed to the woman. "I understand your anger I really do. But this time the war is not between us and Hyrule, it's more beneficial to work with Hyrule, rather than against. For if Hyrule falls than we are next, and while we are stronger in battle than Hyrule it would be better to gamble a few lives rather than our entire species. After all, we just celebrated 2,500 of us we need to make progress forward, not backward, this is the best way to do that."

 _only 2,500 of them?_ Zelda was astonished, she had known that Gerudo was small in number but the last time she was here, she was only about 19 and was a brand new mother, she hadn't noticed how few in number they were. But now as Queen of her kingdom, 2,500 was smaller than any of the tiniest villages in Hyrule. _Oh I'm sorry for what Hylia did to you guys._

Thousands of years ago, when Zelda, Ganondorf, and Link were first created, Hylia was furious with Ganondorf's behavior and cursed his people to only have one man at one time. The Gerudo numbers dropped from the hundreds of millions like Hyrule's population to only about two dozen when Ganondorf lead his people to the desert where most Hylians refused to go. A choice that saved his people. Yet if 2,500 was a lot, that curse had caused a thousand more riots from Ganondorf in an effort to reclaim the basic right to live and reproduce normally and not hindered by the desert or only one male. So the punishment ultimately backlashed against Hyrule. Until her most recent life, where she and Ganondorf had met as barely more than children, and he had gotten a chance to explain all of this, Zelda had blindly followed the will of Hylia and tried to make it as painful as possible for Ganondorf to attack Hyrule to try and discourage it, never fully understanding why he kept coming back. It turned out it was to fight for his people. Most Hylians didn't understand this either so they assumed that the Gerudo were a blood-thirsty race and many wanted to wipe them out for good, but without any knowledge of how to survive the desert, they weren't able to compete with the Gerudo in their desert home. 

The second woman spoke, she was older, clearly, not only because Zelda knew this woman, this woman who had helped deliver Atko many many years ago and had helped the new parents raise him during the first year or so but because she was older than the Calamity, old enough to remember Demise's battle with Link. Having been born sometime before Ganondorf was executed and banished into the shadow realm for a time. Yet she was still stunningly beautiful "I have seen what will come if we are to do nothing." The wise woman said silencing any mummers before they became outbursts. "We will not be able to survive, Ganondorf will fall defending us and we will follow not long after." The crowd nodded in understanding if what the wise woman was saying was true, Zelda had been right in saying the situation was direr for Ganondorf than it seemed. "Those who remain in the desert are going to die. By going with Ganondorf, you will have a chance to survive, and the Gerudo will live on." The women gave another nod and slowly seperated to collect their families. Zelda expected mass panic but was surprised when they were all very civil about the whole thing. _They are warriors from birth. They've been through several possible extinctions. They are trained for this._

Ganondorf leaped off the rock and landed neatly beside Hirosmu. "Is it true?" He asked walking beside her, their sides nearly brushing as they walked together.

"Yes and no." Hirosmu replied, slowing to allow Teako to join them, Ganondorf nodded to Teako in thanks and walked so he was gently brushing against both of them. He was a tad bit taller than his companions but not by much. The image made Zelda unexplainably angry. She and Ganondorf weren't even together and he had fathered every single one of these women's children so they had more right to being close with him than she did. After all Zelda had abandoned him to go back to her people, it was only fair he went back to his. But still, she smoldered. "Ganondorf, I want you to take those warriors with you. My vision..." Hirosmu swallowed, 

_okay focus Zelda! 2,500...where am I going to put that many people... Well, it won't be 2,500 I don't think, I think that's a total population not the population of this village but still... My palace can only hold about 2,500 people total and that's if all my staff and advisors and consults moved out... but I do have extra housing in the Cloud District but... well let's see how many there actually are._

Ganondorf took a moment to process this information. "I'll gather them." He agreed slowly, turning to Hirosmu "Thank you, for everything." He breathed Hirosmu nodded and took off a red diamond-patterned earring and pressed it into his hand. "I-" Ganondorf gazed at the jewelry for a moment. Then he closed his palm protectively. "I will never forget your kindness, as my first-mate lives ago, my mother in my last life, and my wise-woman in this one." Hirosmu nodded around a small smile. "May the gods grant you strength." 

Ganondorf separated from her and shook himself, but didn't quite stand as straight as he had before, he went about swapping one of his golden studs for the red diamond earring. Teako and Ganondorf approached Zelda, Ganondorf even cracked a smile when Hirosmu called out to him, "We'll take down as many of those bastards with us as we can!"

Zelda nodded to Teako and walked beside Ganondorf, trying to return the same closeness he had with Teako but he flinched away. The simple reaction hurt, but she knew better than to push it. "I'm sorry Ganondorf, I know that isn't what you wanted to hear," Zelda whispered. The rulers exchanged a strange, sad glance. "I will help you and them as best as I can."

"Thank you." Ganondorf was barely audible as he faced his patrol of about 15. 5 healers by the looks of it and 10 warriors. He forced himself to stand up straight. "My friends." His voice was louder, more confident, secretly Zelda wondered if most of his confidence was a facade but didn't dwell on the thought. "If you haven't already gather your mothers, sisters, friends, daughters. Everyone you know and love, even those who cannot fight.” The warriors nodded and a few separated for a moment. Soon the town square became more lively with pregnant women, sleepy children, and ancient women Zelda watched the Gerudo gather she noticed two young girls, maybe about 7 or 8 fighting over a stuffed camel and nearly tripped over Ganondorf's metal-plated boot. 

The girls looked up at the massive man. "Daddy!" They squealed happily, purring when he picked them up, 

"Hi girls! You've gotten big since the last time I saw you!" Ganondorf replied booping both on the nose as he set them on his shoulders.

"Hey, dad." Mused a teenage girl as she stalked past rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Hey, Jester."

Zelda was suddenly hit by the reality of this situation Ganondorf was thrown in suddenly. These were all his family and anyone who stayed behind was going to die. "Are we going to go to the other tribes?"

"We can't." Ganondorf sighed. "I'm not strong enough to travel that far, portals or no." He looked around at the gathering women, "We only have who we bring from U'laf." Zelda's heart broke with his. These were children, pregnant women, sisters, mothers, not warriors. His warriors returned now the party was at about, maybe three dozen. Only three dozen Gerudo left. _Goddess spare them..._ On the bright side she could house three dozen in the palace. "Let's go," Ganondorf ordered as the portal began to waver. His strength was failing.

Together with the Gerudo, Zelda returned home, Impa waited patiently but her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when the families of Gerudo came through. "I uh..."

"Impa I need you to trust me."

"Those are some... very small warriors."

"They're not. We're saving the Gerudo." Ganondorf appeared beside her and the portal closed. "Teako and Impa, will you two settle what needs to be settled and get everyone situated? Ganondorf I need to talk with you." Ganondorf nodded and set his twin daughters down, Teako gave a noncommital shrug and Impa glared at Zelda, but said nothing.

Zelda lead the way down a long corridor. Ganondorf trekked behind her, and now that he wasn't in front of his people he looked exhausted. His body seemed small and frail suddenly. She wasn't sure how he had hid how tired he was from even her. She knew him well... but then so did his tribemates. "Gan..." She began once they were well out of earshot and around a corner where no-one could see them. "I really am sorry about what's happening..." She breathed gently reaching out to touch his cheek. He closed his eyes and allowed it, digging his hand in the wall to help support himself as he relaxed, even if just for a moment.

"I don't know what I'm going to do." He admitted after a long minute. "On the one hand Hirosmu hasn't lied before but on the other... what could wipe us out so easy?"

"I wish I could tell you but we've been trying to answer that same question for two years now." It was hard to see him like this, on the one hand, it was nice that she was gifted the privilege of seeing his weakness that no one else did. Not even his own advisors. On the other hand, he looked like he was barely holding himself together. Like one small push and he would collapse like a sandcastle against the tide.

"What happened to us?" Ganondorf asked, his voice soft and his eyes shaking just a little bit. "It didn't have to be like this."

Zelda's face fell and she breathed sadly, "it did Gan. Had I not gone when I had, you would have died protecting your people and your sacrifice would have been in vain." Zelda ran her thumbs under his eyes where deep-set shadows were white as bone. 

Ganondorf snorted and pulled away from her. "You don't know that." He growled.

"I do." Zelda caught his hand in hers and held onto it and he didn't try and pull away. "As much as it hurts you, you know it too."

Ganondorf sighed through his nose. "Take me to my chambers. I have to think. If we have time I'd like to take some more civilians from another village tomorrow... I need to sleep."

Zelda had an idea. Maybe a selfish one but she figured it would cheer him up too. "I was planning on sharing my chambers with you." She explained.

Ganondorf glared at her. The look startled her. She hadn't excpeted his answer to be agressive to the suggestion but he scowled. "No. My people need me." He snapped "If you had needed me you wouldn't have left." 

"Jerk!" Zelda scoffed and he growled and pushed away from Zelda forcing her to watch sadly as he stomped away toward the chambers where his warriors were getting set up. Her heart broke since likely he would be sharing his bed with another women but... He was right in saying his people needed that from him right now. But surely he wouldn't get his warriors pregnant and send them into battle? Zelda sighed and shook her head. She would talk to him tomorrow. As much as she missed him the lapse in judgement in favor of selfish want was uncalled for. She decided she'd apologize in the morning. For now. It was late and they all needed to sleep.


	6. Pride Swallowed

While Link had been officially informed of the Gerudo's assistance in the war effort, he had not anticipated seeing more than a Warband or two, and of those warbands, mostly seasoned warriors being the general composition. So he was startled, to say the least, when he rounded a corner in the nobleman chambers wing and was met with forty Gerudo women. The youngest clocking in at about three months, the oldest was likely Ganondorf himself at thirty-something. About a dozen of the women were visibly pregnant. Many were occupied herding their daughters into rooms for the night and the whispers amongst the adults spoke of worry. Link was the champion of Hyrule and he was used to fear, yet he aimed to alleviate it and that was his new mission, to help these people as best as he could.

He quickly found the best reference point the Demon King himself. He was pacing, arms folded behind his back and his brows knitted together, he looked worried. Something was horribly wrong.

Link hurried over to Ganondorf, as much as Link didn't like Ganondorf, he needed to know what was happening and how he could help. "What's happening?" Link asked, hating not knowing what Ganondorf was doing or planning.

"The desert is no longer the Gerudo people's home," Ganondorf replied darkly.

Link blinked at him a few times. "The fu--What does that even mean?" Link cut himself off realizing there were small children around.

"It means it will be the death of my kind." Ganondorf glowered at him.

"Oookay drama boy." Link rolled his eyes, "how can I help these women?" He didn't have to like Ganondorf to help with his people.

The men stared at one another for a long cold moment. "Nothing. We don't need your help." He replied evenly, eyes narrowing.

Link quirked an eyebrow and held his gaze. "Daddy?" A tiny voice squeaked from Ganondorf's feet. Both looked down to see a little girl of about five or six, tugging on a loose bootstrap on Ganondorf's foot. "When can I get my blanket back?" Ganondorf's eyes softened and the room went quiet as his warriors watched and awaited his response.

"Sweetheart." A warm purr rumbled out of Ganondorf's throat as he picked his daughter up and held her close to him. "You can have as many blankets as you want okay Zeebo? In fact, nice Mr. Link will help you get a brand new warm furry one okay?" Ganondorf promised gently stroking her cheek with a knuckle. He passed Zeebo over to Link who happily took the Gerudo child, Ganondorf's people nodded approval and crowded around Link.

_Wow, that was a new thing. Maybe he did change. I always thought his people hated him and he was some tyrant but... he loves them_

"We need clothes." Another woman spoke, "We left everything behind."

"And we need diapers."

"Towels."

"Warm water?"

"Food."

"Toys for the kids."

"Medical care."

"Okay, okay," Link said finally holding up a free hand. "Let me get a piece of paper and some more hands and I'll make sure everyone gets what they want." He promised and turned to lead the way towards where Impa would be with extra servants. He snuck a last glance at Ganondorf and the few women who didn't go with Link. The huge man looked grateful, amused and maybe a bit cowed, their eyes met for a long second and he mouthed:

_Thank you._


	7. War Never Changes

To say Ganondorf was offended by the nature of Zelda's advances would be false. Under any other circumstance, he would have said yes. But coming from _her_ just minutes after receiving the time bomb had been plain insensitive as far as Ganondorf was concerned. But then Link's offer to help the Gerudo get settled had counterbalanced it, as embarrassed as he had been by Zeebo coming in at the perfect moment to shine a light on Ganondorf's prideful lies, he was grateful that all his people's needs got met within the hour and all of the refugees had been comfortable during the night.

All the same, Ganondorf had cycled between sleeping like the dead and tossing about all night long, as comfortable as the bed was, it wasn't his and it was cold. Not the kind of cold that a blanket could fix either. The chill was enough to make him wish he had said yes to Zelda.

The next morning Ganondorf woke up exhausted but functional. Everything about these chambers was a wine red color from the sheets to the carpet to the walls and the curtains, he didn't mind it. It was easy on the eyes and not really a loud color. He nearly jumped out of his skin when there was a light tapping on his chamber doors. Ganondorf groaned and rolled out of bed, throwing on some light trousers before he answered it. 

Ganondorf and Zela both jumped when they saw the other. Zelda was dressed in a light blue jacket that led to blue pants with a black stripe embroidered into it, under the jacket was a blue and black blouse and to top it all off leather boots. "Get dressed." Zelda said, "let's go meet the war council."

Ganondorf nodded solemnly, ignoring Zelda's wandering gaze to his bed, looking for a night's lover he was sure. He had nothing, and no one, to hide but he closed the door anyway, both because he needed to dress and because she had no right to pry.

He adorned his protective layers of heavy armor before he stepped back out of the room. Zelda had waited patiently and walked beside him, gently guiding the way to their destination. "I apologize for last night," Zelda whispered, "I was not thinking as I should have been."

"Apology accepted," Ganondorf replied. He was over it.

"Thank you." Zelda nodded, "I should tell you that my council is made up of most of the races of Hyrule."

"Most?" Ganondorf asked skeptically.

"Well, Bokolins am Lizofs care not for politics or peace between races." Zelda explained, “my Rito advisor is named Tebo, he is a wise man, if a bit impulsive.” “Yubono is a Goron, he’s young and stubborn, and while not the smartest of my council his heart is in the right place and is always optimistic.” “Prince Sidon of the Zora is very... blunt, he means what he says and says what he means. Calamity Ganon took his sister from him so I would anticipate him to not be happy with your presence. Link you’ve already met.”

"Mm." Ganondorf wasn't sure how he felt about that. "I'd like to add a Gerudo representative to your court. I know exactly who I'd like for the task."

Zelda quirked her head at him. "Very well. I have pushed for a Gerudo representative for almost my entire reign. My requests have been denied by either you, my council, my people or the selected ambassador. But the two of us pushing for it together just might sway them. Though I doubt they'll be quick to forget the Yexma encounter."

Ah, the Yexma life. The last lifetime he had allowed a Gerudo representative. The Gerudo he had chosen as ambassador had served as an excellent spy for him that lifetime and when the time came she had fought tooth and nail besides her sisters, ultimately falling to Link before the 'Hero of Time' killed Ganondorf himself. Decapitation if the flared pain at the thought of the distant memory from a scar in his neck was any indicator.

"This room," Zelda said as she turned to an out of the way door in the center of the hallway. 

"Small," Ganondorf observed cooly as he approached the door. 

"To you maybe." She huffed and stalked into the room, Ganondorf shrugged and ducked under the doorframe but was thankfully able to stand up straight inside the room. Inside the room was Link, dressed in heavy leather armor and holstering the Master Sword strapped to his back. Next to him was a coral-colored fish-man, who instead of hair had a literal shark tail and his ears were fins that flopped over themselves like a dog. On his throat were slits that assisted in underwater breathing. Gills Ganondorf supposed. Across the table from the set of men was a young turtle-like man, who had a small round head compared to his large round body. On his back was a rock formation in the shape of a shell. His skin was a rocky brown and his eyes were a black soulless color. Ganondorf never had really gotten used to the Gorons. Taller than the Goron was a white feathered bird-man, he stood with a bow in his hands(?) and his eyes were blue. Standing at about 6 feet tall the bird-like Rito hovering about the turtle-esque Goron who stood at only about three feet. The fish man Zora stood at about 6 and a half feet and Link was maybe 5 foot something. Still making Ganondorf the tallest. No shocker there but hey.

"Queen Zelda..." the Zora snarled, "is your company who I think it is?"

"Prince Sidon, this is Ganond-"

"You!" Prince Sidon snarled as he lunged from his chair and landed adroitly in front of Ganondorf. "You killed my sister!"

Ganondorf scoured his memory, "mmm don't remember making fish sticks lately though those do sound pretty good right now." Sidon roared his face flushing blue, livid with the bigger man, and his gills rippled as his eyes became slits and he went to swing at him. But Ganondorf got a swift elbow in the stomach from Zelda for the comment. "Though fish sticks for breakfast is a little strange." He added quickly, though a little winded from Zelda's blow.

Link approached than, setting a hand on Sidon's shoulder. "This isn't the same person." He assured the taller man.

"How do you know?" Sidon growled.

"Ganondorf is not Ganon," Zelda answered. "Ganon, the Beast killed your sister. Ganondorf the Gerudo, has done some horrible things in the past but is innocent of his typical crimes in this life." Ganondorf was flattered that both of his typical enemies were standing up for him now. Even the council members exchanged off looks at the twist of fate.

"But he can become the monster any time he chooses," Sidon complained. "He could run me through any time he wants."

"So I'd suggest shutting up. Dramatically increases your lifespan don't you agree?" Ganondorf snarled, now the little fish-man was getting on his nerves.

"Go sit down." Link soothed gently, "we'll explain why he's here in a second." Sidon huffed, his face white with rage but did turn to sit. "Your people were comfortable last night?" Link addressed the leader of the Gerudo.

"With no small thanks to you," Ganondorf replied pleasantly, he would not forget the kindness Link had shown Ganondorf's tribemates. 

Zelda looked between the two men, the two men who had been pitted against one another for so long being friendly to one another. The image put a wide grin on her face. She would ask how that had happened later, for the moment she enjoyed the moment.

"Zelda." Link titled his head at her. "You can introduce him now." He half teased.

Zelda shook herself and stood at the head of the table. "My friends. We have reached a turning point in this war. Our guest Ganondorf has agreed to help us turn the tide against the enemy we can't defeat alone. His troops will be around the palace as well so they are able to help as needed." She shot a glance at the Gerudo King, who nodded agreement at leaving out the threat of extinction for the time being. "Yes, Tebo?" Zelda turned to the snowy Rito who had started to speak but hadn't elected not to at first.

"Well..." Tebo began. "I don't mean to be rude in the slightest but how can we trust him not to turn on us after he's helped us win the war?"

Zelda exchanged another look with Ganondorf. "He won't you will just have to take my word on it." Zelda said imperiously, ending the argument. If Hirosmu was right and the Gerudo were going to be wiped out, Ganondorf wouldn't have to power to try and overthrow Hyrule even if he wanted to, but she wasn't going to tell her advisors about that just yet, in case they got the wrong idea and suggested they attack and kill the Gerudo now.

"Than what does the o mighty king of thieves suggest we do?" Sidon quipped sarcastically.

Ganondorf shouldered his way to the center of the room and leaned over the map of Hyrule's kingdom. "They attacked the city of Sirap in the East. Ocisnarf in the West. Kroy in the North and Xineohp in the South. Interesting." _A diversion tactic, but what are they trying to hide?_

"What's it mean? It's just random." Tebo asked him almost timidly.

"It's far from random," Ganondorf replied, "To attack the farthest city in each of the compass directions takes knowledge and planning, and these were large cities am I correct?" He got a series of nods. "A skilled army to attack these all and leave nothing behind and at these places, they're trying to tug the army apart so they get a weakened force in all their places and send small warbands to do an army's job."

"A Gerudo tactic," Zelda muttered.

"Yes." Ganondorf's brows knitted together, his people relied on trickery such as this because they lacked the numbers to pull a frontal assault until there was no one left to reinforce Hyrule. This concerned him greatly that another was copying his strategy. He hadn't any defects this lifetime so it couldn't be one of his people since his prevoius Gerudo lives killed any defectors... A traitor perhaps, or maybe a fellow tactician with a small army to take on an insurmountable foe.

"They are going to attack the cities of, Okyot in the East, Noscut in the South, Elttaes in the West and Uaenuj in the North." Ganondorf pondered. "Here's what we're going to do. We'll evacuate each of the cities and set an ambush."

"How are we going to pull off an ambush in four different places at once?" Zelda inquired and like magic he fell into a rhythm he hadn't been in for 15 years. Not an unpleasant sensation but not one he had anticipated walking into this room.

"We'll surround them without them noticing and strike decisively."

"Well, my troops will need to be trained." Zelda mused. "The civilians need to be evacuated as well." Her voice fluttered in tune with the beating of their hearts. His ears had changed into the beasts just enough to sense her heartbeat matching his.

"My troops can train yours. Then we’ll chase all four parties until they meet up in this gorge, then we'll rain arrows down on them until they reach the city of Snaelro where we'll flank them and I'll come charging down the center here." His finger dragged a line down the road in front of the city in question. "Link and the archers from the gorge can pick off any stragglers that I don't get."

"Right right so then we chase them into the gorge and corner them in front of Snaelro!" Zelda nodded excitedly. "You can become a boar and rip through the surviving number!" Link, Tebo, the Goron and even Sidon leaned over the map as they considered. Zelda and Ganondorf met eyes over the map Ganondorf winking at Zelda while she smiled warmly at him. Alone the council would not have listened to Ganondorf's advice but with Zelda "pitching" the ideas they found this to be a rather interesting plan indeed.

It felt good to have her as a friend again, as much as he was still frustrated and hesitant to take it farther Ganondorf liked the Hylian Queen’s support and backing.

"Alright." Tebo said straightening, his words jerking Ganondorf out of his thoughts, "how long do we have to prepare this trap?"

"Ten days maximum."


	8. Reunion

Zelda liked to think of herself as a patient woman. Yet she was fidgety, anxious even. Ganondorf had left the palace again to bring as many villages as he had the strength to transport to the palace. He had estimated about two villages but he was becoming desperate. But he hadn't been in so much a hurry that he had forgotten to extend an offer to her to discuss "personal matters" as he put it. _As if fighting a war isn't personal enough._ Zelda sighed and paced around her rose garden, he had told her to meet him there when the moon had hit its peak. Yet the grandfather clock in the main corridor showed almost an hour past the arranged time.

It certainly didn't help she had dressed light clothing, she had anticipated the conversation going one of two ways depending on how mature the pair could be when left out of the prying eyes of the public and given some time to sort their differences out. If they were mature adults about it they would settle their scores peacefully and she would be free to retire to her chambers for the evening. If they had a lapse in judgment or Ganondorf was able to forgive Zelda for it, they may end up retiring together to her chambers for the night, and wake up early the next morning side-by-side once again after so long waking up with a cold space beside her in the sheets.

She understood why Ganondorf was upset with her, she really did. The way that their relationship had ended the last time had not been pretty. She had felt she had no choice but to abandon him and their son in order to save her kingdom from civil war and now she understood that she had to leave in order to keep Hyrule united against this new threat. She did regret what she had to give, she really and truly did but because of her choice, her son was now a fine young man where he would have been killed by Hyrule had Zelda taken him in, her people would have assumed Atko was the result of rape or that Zelda had birthed the evil who tried to conquer Hyrule time and time again, resulting in the execution of both mother and child. though it had not been an easy choice for her, she had had to leave behind a wonderful man who had not only been the first person to treat her like a person, not like a fragile object that was easily broken and he had been a much better parent than she had in any of her lives despite how young he had been when Atko was born. Under the protection of the Gerudo people, Atko had flourished and now as an adult, he could say his mother was the Gerudo and his father was Hylian, which was not entirely uncommon and he wouldn't be questioned farther. Atko's problem with the arrangement was being raised by Ganondorf alone and no mother in a situation where his knowing his mother might have filled in the blanks on why he was such an oddity. The only one who didn't get anything out of the arrangement was Ganondorf, who got a son to raise alone and the first real heartbreak of this life and it weighed on him heavily. He had done an excellent job raising Atko, though with the number of daughters he had reared in his day Zelda supposed it was second nature to him by now. No matter the cause she was exceedingly grateful to him for everything he had done for her and Atko.

But that was hardly what she should be worrying about, there was no going back and changing that now, no matter how much she wished she could. What could he possibly want to talk with her about? Zelda really thought it was going to be about their relationship now 15 years later. Yet the more she thought about it the more she wondered if it could be something else, he had been acting weird all day, being friendly with Link and giving forgiveness freely, which was to say nothing of how easily he had fallen back into the melody of their time together in the war council that morning. He hadn't fought it at all but hadn't needed to talk with Zelda immediately afterward like she expected he would if he needed to cling onto that feeling of being with her again. 

"Zelda." His voice startled the living daylights out of her as he appeared silently behind her, having blended into the night shadows around the palace to get around without being questioned.

"Ganondorf!" Zelda hissed as she whipped around to face him in the archway. He was leaning against the cobbled wall of the arch gazing at her the way a predator observed its prey, yet she felt no fear of him. Despite being incredibly vulnerable in front of him, pitifully small in his shadow in a tanktop and fur pants compared to his hundred pounds of armor as amber eyes glinted dangerously at her in the dark.

Well, maybe she was a little afraid of him.

 _What's to stop him from turning on us?_ Tebo's words echoed in her mind as she swallowed thickly. She was alone with him, at night, in a place where no one would be able to hear them, with the man whom she had seriously fucked over.

To top it all off he looked pissed. Though under that she saw his skin was ghostly pale and his eyes had deep set shadows under them and he stance, while angry, was sloppy. He was tired more than anything else he was feeling then.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to stop shaking in front of him. His eyes, which were oddly calm, could see her fear if he couldn't smell it. She wondered how far along in the transformation he was.

"I-It's late," Zelda spit out finally. "How can I help you?"

"Give me answers." He growled back.

She felt a rush of relief at that, he wasn't here to kill her. "I will to the best of my abilities."

"Why?"

Zelda's eye dropped to the ground faster than a boulder fell to earth during an earthquake. "Why did I leave?" She looked up just enough to catch his nod. "You know why I had to do that."

"No. Don't give me the political answer. Why did you leave?" He spat. Suddenly his anger crumbled into desperation, confusion and hurt, "what did I do?"

_He thinks it was his fault._

"No. No Gan you don't understand you didn't do anything, you were everything I could ever ask for and then some." She assured him daring to meet his eyes, he hadn't done anything to cause her to leave.

"Than why? What happened? If it wasn't me then what was the real reason?"

"I-"

"We had the world at our feet! We could have made a life of our own, been everything you ever wanted... Why did you throw that away?" Ganondorf didn't let her answer. "I don't understand. I mean, being parents at 19 was tough but we always had each other's back and my tribe loved you to death!" He swallowed thickly and his breathing quickened until he was hyperventilating. "Did you lose interest? Think I was cheating? Found another?" His eyes darted over her frantically as she took a step closer to him. "What are you doing?" 

"Come here." She breathed gently.

She was pleasantly surprised when he did so and even situated so he could meet her eyes for the first time that night. She flung her arms around his neck and held him tightly. His whole body shuddered as he fought the wave of emotion that surged through him as she stroked his hair soothingly, his arms came up around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"I've got you now," Zelda assured him.

"What's to say-"

"Shh, I'm here now."

Ganondorf shuddered again and pressed against her neck trying to control himself but the longer she stayed the more he lost the battle to 15 years of doubt and confusion. Zelda's last clear thought was feeling a warm droplet of water land on her shoulder.


	9. Reasonable Suspicion

Link had chosen to be present when Ganondorf returned with his three villages of women. He looked like a skeleton after that, whatever it was he had to do to save his people was taxing on his soul itself it seemed. Link had begun to help settle in the new women and addressed any long term concerns the prior day’s village had remembered or discovered over the last 24 hours. It was half-past midnight before Link noticed something odd. Ganondorf was missing and that unsettled Link more than he figured it should.

Link gave the man a few minutes to return, in case he had stepped away to relieve himself or something of that nature. Yet he made no reappearance. Link, as head of national security, as well as commander of the nation's troops, did not like the idea of a known criminal wandering about freely, despite Ganondorf having seemed to have turned over a new leaf. Queen Zelda had retired for the night and was left practically unguarded and it was probable Ganondorf knew that and also knew that now would be his time to strike if he was going to.

Still Link didn’t want to cry wolf. He approached Ganondorf’s chambers quietly after leaving the care of the Gerudo in the very capable hands of Impa. He did his best to stay hidden, he did not have a natural talent Ganondorf did to command shadows to hide him but he had lived almost feral for the first 16 years of his life and knew how to conceal himself decently.

Before Link could get to the door to listen, it burst off its hinges as Ganondorf stormed out, tusks sprouting from his bottom lip as he hesitated, listening to his surroundings. His chambers were only around a corner from the rest of his people’s, just enough to offer a bit of privacy to him and any lovers he may have had. Link inhaled sharply and held his breath, wishing he could stop his heart for just a second. Ganon was far from happy right now. Any exhaustion vanishing into thin air it seemed and Link did not want to become the target of that rage. Ganondorf snorted and stormed off down the opposite hallway, shrouding himself to silence his steps but not hide him from sight completely, just enough that an untrained eye would have a hard time seeing him. He didn’t want to be noticed it appeared.

Link swallowed and followed, he didn’t know what Ganondorf was doing or where he was going, maybe to the training yard to blow some steam and he just didn’t want to be questioned or talked to right now? Link did that from time to time so he understood that need to beat the hell out of something every now and then.

Link’s heart fell when Ganondorf turned too early for the training yard and quickly followed the bigger man so he didn’t lose sight of him. Ganondorf had turned left, unsettling only because his armor should clang noisily to the ground but was silent as he moved. Ganondorf didn’t stop as he reached a huge archway that opened up into... _Zelda’s Garden._

Zelda had knelt, stroking a rose gently, but had stood to stretch and to glance impatiently at the sky. _What’s she doing here? She said she was going to bed!_ Ganondorf hesitated and crept closer to her, his body turning rigid suddenly as he lay eyes on her. _What if he tries to kill her? What am I going to do?_

 **_Attack only if he turns violent._** A sweet voice that sounded like his mother spoke to him in his mind. He agreed with this, let Ganondorf play his hand and then react accordingly. Ganondorf stalked up behind Zelda before in his booming imperious voice spoke, both loud and soft at the same time. He was striving to sound powerful but not loud or wake anyone else up Link suspected. “Zelda.”

Zelda pivoted on her heel faster than she maybe should have, jumping out of her skin as she did so. “Ganondorf!” She snapped at him. She took one look at him and her eyes widened in fear and her ears flicked anxiously “I-It’s late. How can I help you?”

“Answer my questions.” He bellowed. Link stopped paying attention after that. They went on about ‘why’ this and ‘what’ that for a few minutes and it sounded emotionally charged on Ganondorf’s part but Zelda was trying to soothe him it seemed, and Link wasn’t particularly worried about what Ganondorf was feeling, so long as it wasn’t murderous rage. Though Link was beginning to suspect something had happened a very long time ago that was what was bothering Ganondorf, after all, nothing had really happened to cause this yet. The war was stressful for everyone Link was sure but the mighty Warmonger king was not bothered by another petty war Link suspected.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” The voice startled Link out of his observation.

“Shh!” Link hissed and covered his intruder's mouth with a hand. Zelda’s silver eyes stared back at him annoyed. “Uh, sorry Z-“ The rest of ‘Zelda’s’ body became visible as Link’s eyes adjusted to the dim light. It was Atko staring back at him. Link gestured sheepishly to around another corner out of sight of the strange couple, who seemed to be getting along fine now. “Sorry.” Link said as he forced his mind to push the images that popped involuntarily into his mind at the pair and forced back the anger that sprung in his throat. Ever since he had found out about his destiny at 12 years old he had fostered a bit of a crush on the Queen. When Zelda caught wind of this she had gently informed him that Link was more of a son to her this life and with that, his fantasies were left... unfulfilled. He had gotten over it as he had grown up but it still hurt him that she was with another man. Much less Link’s worst enemy. Even if they had made amends for the time being. Ganondorf? Seriously?

“Link?” Atko snapped him back into attention again. “What are you doing out here so late?”

“I could ask you the same question.” Link replied, not in a mean way, just inquisitive. 

“I wanted to talk to my dad before he retired for the night.” Atko replied, “Your turn.”

“Wait, your... _Dad_?”

“Uh-huh.” Atko gazed at him blankly “what about it?”

“Your _Dad_ is _Ganondorf_??”

“Well it’s not like theirs another option on my Gerudo side.” Atko deadpanned. 

“So that means your mom is-“ _Holy Shit. Those_ are _Zelda’s eyes_ and if Ganondorf was Atko’s father that meant... Link turned to look at the rulers once again and was surprised to see them embracing one another tightly. _Holy fuck. Then, if they were happy together... what separated them?_

“My mom is Hylian I know, who I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” Atko explained, “just don’t tell anyone I said that.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because they’ll likely think my dad, well he could have snatched up some girl who got lost and...” Atko couldn’t finish his sentence but Link understood what he was going for. Had he not known both Ganondorf and Zelda as well as he did he might have assumed the same thing. “But I’m not that. I know I’m not that, I and my mom just got separated that’s all.”

 _Zelda came home. Yet Ganondorf was asking ‘why’ so she left meaning she left behind her son too. Ganondorf just told Atko that they got separated so Atko wouldn’t ever have to feel abandoned. Maybe because he didn’t know why or he didn’t think Atko had been abandoned._ Link was trying to figure out this strange behavior on Zelda’s part as well. Why leave her albeit illegitimate child in the treacherous Gerudo desert? _She knew what she was doing, she didn’t want to either, something happened where she had to come home._

Link almost told Atko his theory. Almost told him the puzzle Link was putting together, maybe he could help Atko confront his parents but... that wasn’t his place or business. Besides if he was wrong he would have gotten Atko’s hopes of finding and reuniting with his mother up for nothing. So he stayed quiet. “You still haven’t told me why you’re out here,” Atko grunted folding his arms over his chest.

“I uh...” Link struggled to find a convincing reason to be out here without offending Atko, “don’t take this the wrong way but I had reason to believe Ganondorf was going to hurt someone, so I was trying to stop that is all.”

Atko shrugged, “he can be intimidating sometimes but he won’t hurt you unless you hurt him first.” _Well it sounds like Zelda’s done that, but he looked calmer, or at least less angry._

“Hey let’s take a walk, I’m curious to meet another Gerudo man who isn’t Ganondorf.”

Atko smirked at that. “The Hero of Time is taking an interest in me? I’m delighted to answer any questions you have!” He purred, yes he was definitely Ganondorf’s son. He spoke with a sense of self-importance and touch smug like he knew he was special and embraced it happily. Link took one last look at Zelda and Ganondorf before he left side-by-side with Atko. As much as he hated the idea that Ganondorf was the man Zelda chose, Link couldn’t help but be happy at how happy Zelda looked to be with the Gerudo King. Link resolved to talk to them about it later.

“So is Ganondorf grooming you to be King?” Link asked, how did Ganondorf rear the only son he had ever lived to see born?

“Yes and no.” Atko replied. “He has taught me how to lead an army and when to put your foot down and when to let it go, in case something happens to him. He says he was very confused and disoriented this life, so it will be up to me to train my half-brother if something happens to Ganondorf.”

“Generally though I was trained as a warrior along with my sisters. I have even been put in charge of leading a unit of my own and have been helping train the next generation of warriors. So mostly that’s what I spend my time doing, I know how to lead but Ganondorf takes care of all that for the time being.” Atko explained.

“Aren’t you young to be training troops?”

“You are head of your army.”

“Touché.” Link smiled at Atko’s smug smirk. “Okay follow up question, how the fuck are you guys not all inbred because you only have one man? How does that work?”

Atko straightened, “Oh, well see... let’s start with dad himself. Every time he’s reborn he’s given aa reshuffle of his talents and skills so to speak. So some lives he is better with the shadow magic and others he’s better with his sword and boar form and so on. So he’s a bit different on a microscopic level every time. But aside from that what he does is each lifetime he moves to a different village. So for example, he was born in U’laf this time, so this time he resides majorly in Iunim, some women travel cities and otherwise move around but he won’t revisit U’laf for up to 250 lifetimes.

“An example of how this works with the people is that Gerudo can live up for thousands of years before time starts to wear on them. So that being said right now dad has a little girl named Zeebo, adorable little thing, but anyway, she will be at least 400 before Ganondorf revisits. So not the same person. At all, still a little bit weird, but if all goes as we would like it too it’ll be closer to 10 to 12 gene scrambles away from the Ganondorf we know today if that makes any sense.”

“More sense than anything I came up with on my own.” Link admitted.

“Nice!” Atko’s eyes shimmered proudly. “It’s complex but it works I promise.”

“Well you would know better than I.” Link suddenly pushed himself flat against the wall hearing thundering footsteps down the hall. Atko quieted as well but stood tall against the shadows. 

Ganondorf came thundering down the hall, ignoring the shadowy hallway. Link watched carefully to see if Zelda was with him and sure enough she stayed close to his side but was quiet as Ganondorf straightened, ears flicking as he heard something. “Hey, dad.” Atko purred.

“Hey Atko.” Ganondorf replied pivoting to face him rather quickly. “You should be asleep. We have a long day tomorrow.”

“Yes sir.” _Good Hylia they sound like each other._ Link thought but stayed hidden. “Is this the legendary Queen Zelda I’ve heard so much about?” He inquired with a head tilt.

“Ah, yes.” Ganondorf looked between the woman in question and Atko. Zelda looked sad but determined. “Zelda, meet ou- my son. Atko meet Queen Zelda.”

Zelda did a curtsy and Atko got halfway through a bow before he stopped. “Our?” His fluffy red eyebrows began to climb his head in confusion.

“Um...” Ganondorf swallowed thickly his face paling. “Listen, we should talk.” Ganondorf beckoned his smaller copy to him. 

Atko exchanged a look with Link shrugged and followed Ganondorf, who gazed blankly at Link, having just noticed him but seeming too tired, or unable to care. Link nodded encouragingly _make your peace._


	10. Family Secrets

"Dad, please tell me that transporting two villages just made you slip up and you aren't keeping some life-shattering secret from me," Ako growled dangerously when they got out of view of Link who stared sadly after the strange mismatched family.

 _Goddess, give me strength._ Ganondorf thought as his eyes dropped to the floor and he stopped. "I'm sorry." He whispered quietly "Zelda is your mother."

"Sorry?" Atko hissed now, his fluffy red hair bristling as he pivoted to face his father. "I was joking and you're saying sorry? Sorry for what? For lying to me? Well, maybe sorry isn't enough for this! Almost 18 years of confusion and now that I'm nearly an adult you want to come clean? Thanks a lot."

"Atko..." Zelda breathed from beside Ganondorf who remained silent.

"You stay out of this!" Atko snapped, "this isn't about you."

"Atko I am sorry." Ganondorf whispered.

"For being too embarrassed about an illegitimate son to tell him of his heritage? Too embarrassed that you failed to keep your mate around that you couldn't tell your own goddamn son about your failings? Really? What about my sisters? Do they know? Do you think about your Hylian bitch while you're with them?" Atko's eyes became pupilless pools of silver as he advanced on his father. 

"Hey!" Ganondorf barked and sprung forward to meet Atko, "you do **not** speak of your mother that way!" 

Atko flinched away and changed tact. "You always taught me bravery in any circumstance yet you ran from your own son? What even are you? A coward? A lair? Cheap. Not a king or a father that's for sure!" Ganondorf flinched at the attack, it hurt him more than any physical wound ever would. Hurt him more than any fear Zelda had shown in the face of Ganondorf's wrath. Hurt him more than anything in the world ever could.

"Atko... please." Zelda tried again but was ignored.

"Too bad you had to be my father. Now I have to wear the shame of being a coward's bastard son." 

Ganondorf raised his head to meet his son's gaze. "I never denied you as my son." He pointed out. "I never denied you anything you wanted to know."

"But you didn't tell me my mother was the Hylian _Queen_ " Atko was in tears as he struggled to get his words out.

"You never asked me." Ganondorf fought back his emotions, it got to be Atko's turn.

"Oh, so I'm just supposed to guess through every single Hylian woman who ever lived and ask if she's my mother? Seriously?" Atko's face was red with fury and he looked ready to attack but he held himself to the ground. Ganondorf knew he only stayed still because he knew Ganondorf, while perhaps a coward, was still Power and could just as easily turn him into dust as he could look at him.

"No." Ganondorf agreed. "But you could've asked if I had spent time with a Hylian woman." His strength was faltering, he was still struggling to recover from the emotional outburst that Zelda had soothed finally.

"Enough!" Zelda howled. "you young man have crossed a line! Back down! Now!" She stepped forward and got into his face despite being at least a foot shorter than him and weighing maybe a third of his weight. "He did a damn good job raising you and you should be grateful that he of all people is your father and he loves you!" Tears began to stream down her face. "It's not his fault."

Atko backed away from Zelda but didn't lift his gaze burned into Ganondorf's soul as he processed her words. "Than who's is it?"

"It's mine," Zelda admitted. Now Atko turned to her. He tilted his head at her curiously. "It was me who started this mess." She stood tall under her son's scrutiny, she showed none of the signs of fear that she had at Ganondorf's rage. Just sadness and tears streamed down her face. Ganondorf opened his mouth to say something but she hushed him. "I will own what I have done." Ganondorf shut his mouth again but pressed into her side.

"Start talking," Atko demanded.

"Your father has loved you since the day you were born. He did everything with you in mind from the moment he lay eyes on you. He loved me too and did nothing to chase me away. We were happy, as a family, for nearly two years." Zelda began trying to be at least coherent.

Atko's nostrils flared. "Then why-"

"I'm getting there." Zelda cut him off. "When your father and I were young, we both ran away from our kingdoms. We met when Ganondorf saved my life and took me in. As time passed we got to know one another and we fell in love. It was almost another year before you were born and though we were only a few years older than you are now, we were determined to be the best parents we could be and Ganondorf reclaimed his crown in order to provide for us and protect us. Things went well and it was nearly your third birthday when a battle with an unknown enemy. It wasn't that big of a deal until we realized we had let you wander to go play and hadn't realized that the people coming to attack us. With them, they brought a Molduga and it nearly killed you. Ganondorf became the boar for the first time to save your life and almost got himself killed in the process. With the help of your tribe sisters and Ganon, we were able to push the enemy back." Zelda was sobbing again, it was not one of those cute crying fits either it was ugly and raw and it had been a long time coming. "That night I realized that our victory over that battle had only been because everyone had been where they needed to be when they needed to be there. Had you not been in the Molduga's path Ganondorf would not have transformed and we would have lost. Had Ganondorf not taken back his throne we wouldn't have had the troops to fight off the attackers and had Ganondorf or I not been on the wall of the village to see you, you would have been killed. It was a sign from the goddess that told me I needed to go home again and take up my crown again in order to help guide my people through an evil that they could not fight unless everyone was where they needed to be. This meant that if I took you with me you would be considered a rape child and killed or be thought to be your father and we both would have been executed. Even if I had convinced my people to keep you alive you would have been horribly mistreated by my people for either being Gerudo, half Hylian or by people knowing who your father was. As it was with Ganondorf you were safe. Ganondorf and his people would protect you and raise you to be a fine young man."

"It was the hardest choice I have ever had to make. But for the sake of the world, and my family I needed to make it. I am sorry that I hurt you and your father in the process but now I can see with this war my people are engaged in. I made the right choice and now I get to see my son and my mate for the first time in fifteen years and everyone was where they needed to be in order to fight this war and win it for the sake of everyone who lives on this earth." She finished finally, sniffling and she went out to hug him but was rejected by him taking a step back. She made an odd strangled noise at the rejection and instead turned to Ganondorf, who welcomed her much more openly. Offering her reassurance and soft words of comfort. 

Atko stared at the pair for a long moment. His ears flicking contemplatively. "I'm going to bed." Atko bit out finally as he turned heel and stalked down the corridor until he was out of sight.

"Alright." Zelda mused, but "we're here when you're ready to talk to us."

"Atko please forgive us." Ganondorf murmured, not loud enough to be heard by anyone but Zelda who set a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. You didn't want him to think I had abandoned him or grown-up thinking his mother hated him. It's my fault."

Ganondorf sighed and nodded. "I need to sleep." He ground out eventually tearing his gaze away from where Atko had disappeared and looking into Zelda's tired silver eyes.

She nodded slowly, "this way." She leads him down the twisting hallways until they reached the eastern wing of the castle and she shoved open the heavy oak doors to her chambers and Ganondorf followed her in before realizing the significance of where they were.

"Um? This isn't a good idea Zelda." He grumbled. He just wanted to sleep. It had been a very. Long. Day.

"Just to sleep." She promised.

"Does this mean we're back together?"

"Hm? I thought we decided that-"

"What about my people? They desperately need me right now." Ganondorf turned to her, curiosity sparked now. He had a number of concerns but the idea of being her mate again... the thought warmed his chest. Yes, that would please him. Very much so. It had been many years since she had proven herself to be his beta as the Gerudo called it. His first mate was really what it was though. His beta was the first mate he took in a lifetime and always held a special place in his heart. With countless other women, he needed to have some distinction between his true mates and those he just reproduced with. Zelda had claimed that title for herself 15 years ago by accident on her part but very much on purpose on Ganondorf's. It would be good to have her beside him again... but then he wasn't about to get stuck with another baby and a broken heart...

"Well if we're together I don't want to share," Zelda answered, the words themselves should have sounded harsh but her voice softened the blow and sounded like wind in the grass instead.

"Well, that's a problem," Ganondorf replied softly, it hurt him that he couldn't just drop everything to be with her. That had been 18 year old Ganondorf's luxury that grown Ganondorf did not have.

"I have an idea." Zelda perked up suddenly. "Come find me after we're done training tomorrow. We need to speak to an old friend of mine."

"Okay, but even if your 'friend' fixes _that_ problem you can't expect me to just throw everything away for you to leave again. That's not going to work. If you can't be all in then this can't happen and we need to spend some time apart or only see each other in public." Ganondorf retorted irritated.

She reached up and touched his face soothingly. "You have my word. I will not run away from this. Not again, not without at least trying to make it work." Ganondorf stared into her soul for a moment, pondering her curiously. She had a point if things were honest to any gods out there not working they both needed to reserve the right to walk away. _but not without trying to make it work first._ Ganondorf agreed to himself. He nodded slowly, dodging her attempt to lean in and kiss him, he wasn't going to go _that_ far. Not yet. Mostly because he knew how this would work. The kiss would get to be more than just that and honestly, he wasn't in the mood, not with Atko being so furious and not when he still wasn't sure if he was ready to be bound to her on a physical level just yet. He still had people to care for after all. _let's just start with sleep. Or talking like civilized people._ He resolved himself and gently butted Zelda's shoulder instead. Not much but it got the point through.

"Not yet." He explained. "I need to think, get used to you again." She met his gaze calmly, thankfully she didn't seem hurt or angry, just sad. "I've missed you." He almost tagged in a few words that would throw his whole, 'taking it slow' resolution to shit. "More than words can say."

"I've missed you too," Zelda replied softly. "Let's get some rest."

It wasn't too long before they got comfortably dressed, (more comfortably dressed than 100 pounds of armor at least.) Then they had to figure out who was sleeping on what side of the bed. Which thankfully was another rhythm from 15 years ago. Ganondorf on the left, Zelda on the right.

Finally for the first time in 15 years he pressed his body against hers and all was right with the world as he drifted into a peaceful sleep.


	11. Can You Feel the Love?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW!

Zelda woke up with a small jolt, she was not used to feeling another living person in bed beside her. Much less so when she opened her eyes to meet a fiery amber gaze.

 _What's that look for? Is he still mad at me? Upset about last night?_ She couldn't quite place the tone of his expression much less his body language. He looked like a predator ready to spring at its prey, yet he seemed hesitant, sad even. _What is he thinking?_ His face brightened slightly when he noticed she had woken up. 

She nearly jumped out of her skin when the whole bed shook with a powerful rumble that erupted from Ganondorf's throat. Fifteen years had passed since such a wonderful noise had graced her ears. When they were young she had once compared him to a lion and that had apparently persisted into his adulthood. King of the desert with a distinctive mane and the fierce protector of his family. She had to admit, her analysis was kinda hot. Not the animal part but the more primal, savage way he lived.

"Morning." She managed finally staring into the huge eyes of Ganondorf. He crept forward on the huge king-sized bed. "What are you-" 

She didn't finish her sentence as Ganondorf reached out to her with a surprisingly tender touch and cupped her cheek in a massive hand. "I tried so hard to resist you." He explained around his purr. "I've missed you and-"

"It's okay Ganondorf." She assured him catching his other hand and bringing it to tangle in her hair. "Don't fight anymore." She whispered 

Ganondorf perked up after that. His purr continued as he pulled Zelda to him and enveloped her between shoulders and a curtain of soft fluffy red hair. He stayed on his side, perhaps fearing he would crush her but he made her feel like he was the whole world and she was happy to allow that to be true for the time. He leaned in and kissed her, very softly like a butterfly landing on a flower, as if she would flinch away or he would wake up from a dream. She sighed through her nose and returned the kiss, with as much passion as she could convey in an action as small as a kiss, but she did so with the same gentle touch that Ganondorf had initiated the kiss with.

With this reassurance, he pressed forward with a ferocity that she had never seen or experienced with and from him before but it consumed her quickly and so thoroughly that she wanted nothing else for the rest of eternity. His hands ran down her back at a snail's pace though she was sure his desire was contained and controlled if it weren't she had little doubt she would already be naked and full of-

She made a casual glance down as she finished her thought and her eyes widened very abruptly now that she realized why he was being so deliberate. Yes, she remembered having to juggle how big he was, in all aspects, in comparison to her but at the time he hadn't been massively bigger than her, just the normal gender gap in height and weight. It seemed he had grown into himself so to speak.

He wasn't disproportionately or even obscenely large, but compared to her suddenly very tiny and frail form he was intimidating, to say the least. "Relax," Ganondorf breathed against her neck, sensing her hesitation, "I'll be careful." Despite her concern, she trusted him. This _was_ a huge part of his life after all. She sighed again and relaxed into him, his hands traveled down her back but was barely touching her, more teasing than anything. She wanted nothing more than to push back into his arms and make him hold her properly for the first time in more than a decade. 

She was foiled by him reaching the hem of her shirt before she could execute her plan.

Zelda had deliberately worn a light pink two-piece nightgown too cold from the extended outdoor wait to stay in the tank top she had initially chosen. Well that and this outfit was just a touch transparent and she did like the outfit, it was surprisingly warm. In addition, it showed off her curves and figure without being tight or uncomfortable. Perfect for an encounter such as this, where the outcome could have been of a sexual nature, or it might have just been lovers reuniting.

Ganondorf, on the other hand, wore silks, where he got _silk_ for an elaborate robe from Zelda didn't know.

Ganondorf wore a deep red and blue silk robe that looked warm and yet sleek all at once, and the outfit really showed off everything. Whether that was because it was incredibly transparent or because it was extremely well fitted Zelda didn't care. All she knew is that through it she could watch his powerful chest dusted with fine red hair that traveled down to a gorgeous set of abs which in turn lead to... She swallowed, both out of nerves and desire, she trusted Ganondorf but unless he was at full mast already, he would likely be getting bigger and that was an interesting prospect for a significantly smaller Hylian woman to take.

She let out a soft if startled whine when his fingers ducked under her top and began to stroke a breast. Zelda moaned as he ran calloused fingers against the exciting peak of her nipples. He smiled playfully and kissed her.

Zelda smiled and allowed him to continue his teasing until he had begun to rub two fingers against the outline of the mound located at the junction of her hips. Zelda groaned and rutted against him carefully, making him do most of the work but encouraging the movements she liked.

Soon she grabbed his shoulder and closed her thighs to his touches. "You okay?" He asked sleepily, he was concerned she had stopped him but nothing in his mind had set off an alarm or a red flag.

Zelda nodded her response but nudged at his shoulder and pushed at it. Quirking an eyebrow he rolled so he would lay on his back but quickly vanished from her eye level and landed with a loud thunk on the floor. "You okay?" Zelda echoed back at the bigger man as she peeked over the ledge of the bed, he looked okay, and she hadn't meant to knock him over, just turn him over, but his new location worked just as well.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied around a chuckle. She came down much softer than him and came up to straddle him and he began to purr again when she got in range of his touch again and tangled his hands in her hair again. 

Zelda smiled and kissed him. "You are just like a lion!" She teased him.

He rolled his eyes in a very similar fashion to how he had many years before but it was good-natured, "Well, at least I've found my roar since the last time you told me that." He replied playfully. He went to say more but her hands were faster than him. She opened the silk robe Ganondorf was wearing and gently ran her fingers along his chest and began to dig her thumbs into his collar and breastbone where she could feel knots that had formed due to the stress over the last days.

Ganondorf watched her curiously for a long time before closing his eyes and laying back and relaxing allowing her to work her magic. Zelda got a wicked idea but decided not to tease him _that_ much, instead, she finished stripping him and adjusting herself so she was so so close to what she wanted.

When she looked back at him, dragging her eyes away from her adjustments and saw dark amber eyes that were barely more than slivers around how massive the black center of his eyes were. He looked patient, if eager to get going, but happy to wait for her to be comfortable. It took Zelda a second to come out of the spell that his eyes hypnotized her with. She kissed him and didn't break it during the mutual effort it took, and with a shallow snap of his hips, he was inside her.

Zelda had never felt so full in her life, but she felt no pain and Ganondorf was struggling to keep himself together as he pushed himself up to kiss her on the side of her neck. She felt his jagged sigh against her skin and she smiled, just his mere presence inside her was nearly too much for him. Zelda ground her hips against his and got a hiss of pleasure as his response. "Good boy." She smiled at him nipping at his neck playfully. He growled and his nails dug into her hips from where he had just gently been holding her before like claws being unsheathed. 

"We can play rough pretty girl." He huffed and lifted her up as he drew away from inside her. She went to complain, not wanting him to stop being reunited with her in this way but he thrust back inside before she could give voice to her thought. She groaned from how he thrust back up against the most sensitive places inside her. With suddenly but perhaps unsurprising strength he surged upwards without dislodging her and pressed her against the mattress so her legs would hang off the edge of the bed if it weren't for Ganondorf between them, Zelda wrapped her legs around his waist and he pulled away from her only to return a moment later, licking a hot stripe up her belly and turning into another kiss.

Maybe to anyone else in any other situation, the action would have been weird but Zelda, at that moment, though it was among the most arousing things he could have done. She moaned and returned the kiss while he took over from there, he began to piston his hips against hers. Any time he pulled almost all the way out her center seemed almost painfully empty and then when he thrust back inside her she felt that fullness return and with it, pleasure. The slick noises or the thump of their hips slapping against one another was completely drowned out by their own symphony of voiced noise. Ganondorf was mostly contributor to growls, hisses and the occasional groan, while Zelda was a majority of the sounds from moans to whines to even a few shrill wails as he hounded for those spots inside her that would make her scream loud enough to wake the whole twenty-five hundred resident castle.

Zelda felt a spark shoot up her belly as he thrust in. She dug her nails into his tattered and scarred shoulders. "Fuck!" She whimpered, Ganondorf watched her with a curious look that was different than what it had been before and he thrust again into the spot.

Yes, that was it. The pulse was electrifying and it tightened this white-hot coil inside her belly to the point of bursting and the more he did it the more pressure was added to the feeling. 

Ganondorf let out what might have been a moan and leaned over her, digging his claw-like nails into the bed, certainly slicing through her sheets easily but she didn't have much capacity to care. He began to thrust harder and faster inside her and his breaths came more rapidly. He was close. He went to pull away and finish her off by other means, stop himself from finishing insider her warm fertile body that had already proven capable of gestating a child of his.

She grabbed his chin almost violently, "come on...." she complained, rutting against him, squeezing around him, she was so close to her orgasm, he couldn't stop now! Ganondorf hesitated but couldn't make out words around a concerned hum. "If this doesn't work it'll be me who takes responsibility this time." She promised him. 

He stared at her for a long moment, "Together." He agreed before he kissed her with a ferocity he had restrained all morning and slid back inside her as if he had never left and set a nearly brutal pace to move with her. It was maybe three well-aimed strokes against the sweet spot inside her before she tumbled over the edge. She knew for a fact she screamed and he roared somewhere distantly soon after but the whole world spun out of existence for a second and a white flower seemed to bloom under her eyelids as powerful waves racked her body and the coil released violently in her belly.

By the time she came to he had pulled out of her and was watching her carefully. When he saw that she was functional again he pushed away from her and instead chose to lay on the opposite side of the bed, not facing her.

She cleaned herself up, dressing in a more public appropriate outfit before she returned to him, his eyes were strangely blank as he stared off into space, he looked devoid of any emotion whatsoever. She touched his shoulder, "you okay?" She asked softly.

He grunted and the life returned to his eyes, "yes I think so, just catching my breath." He assured her nuzzling against her. 

"Are you sure?" She hadn't meant to offend him by demanding he finish with her. It occurred to her a moment later he wasn't _offended_ by her demand, it was that he was worried that it would come to bite him in the ass again but had chosen not to kill the mood. "If you-I- we end up pregnant, will you be willing to try and be a family again?" She asked hesitantly, if not it was her burden to bear. After all, he had pulled her weight for so long that if she was going to encourage him impregnating her it was only fair she took responsibility for this one. After all, the father of any resulting baby was the most virile man in the world. He did his job and he did it well. He had to because if he didn't, the Gerudo would have died out long before any of this could have happened. Zelda had known that when the encounter occurred so it was her choices that would lead to any pregnancy. 

Ganondorf's reply to her proposition surprised her. "Of course!" He purred. "That would make me the happiest man alive!" He smiled. "Just with the war and the thing with Atko-" She smiled and touched his hand softly. 

"We'll make it work okay?" He nodded in response. Zelda sat beside him for a long moment, catching her breath, suddenly she yelped as Ganondorf scooped her up and held her properly for the first time in so many years. His purr dominated the room again as he held her impossibly close. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders with a smile closing her eyes and listening to his heartbeat and his purr. It was maybe an hour before they moved again. "Let's go find our troops, they're going to be wondering where we are."


	12. New Life

Witching hour was way too late to be up. Yet here Link was, his foot kicked up on a nightstand. The nightstand home to a lit candle, and in Link’s lap was a huge novel he had borrowed from the castle library. He leaned back in his mahogany rocking chair letting his mind wander to the boy who was occupying nearly every one of his thoughts. How was he handling this change? Would he leave the kingdom now that he had found his answers? How did Atko feel about Link? How did Link feel about him? Was it even reasonable for Link to get his hopes up when Atko might be straight? But maybe he wasn’t... maybe there was a small chance. Link tried to distract himself from the thoughts he was getting. He knew that all was quiet around the palace, mostly because he had patrolled it at least three times, so it was startling, to say the least when he heard thunderous pounding on his heavy oaken door. "Yes?" Link called out to the knock,

"It's me," Atko answered, his voice very distinctive from Ganondorf’s. He had more Zelda's softer voice than Ganondorf's booming force. "May I come in?" He sounded stressed out. Despite this, Link was happy it was Atko. Seeing as how the only other logical option would be Ganondorf and Link didn’t want to deal with the Demon King right now, especially since it sounded like he had his girlfriend back to mess around with. Link had no intention of telling Atko any of _these_ thoughts of course. But why was Atko here? How did he feel about this whole thing? Of course, it had been groundbreaking to Link to find out Ganondorf and Zelda's secret, which they kept safe from even the nosiest of advisors or the most active of guards. Everyone knew the queen ran away before she was fully coronated, but no one knew she bore Ganondorf's child while she was gone.

Link had no doubt that the news was world shaking for the young Gerudo. "Come in." Link nodded to nobody in particular, if the other needed an ear to listen, Link could provide.

Atko didn't slam past the door as his father would have given the situation, but he certainly wasn't gentle with the door either. Atko himself was visibly agitated, his long fluffy red hair spiking up in a hundred different ways from running his fingers through it. His silver eyes were not as bright as they had been before and the dark shadows under his eyes were deep enough to reveal the pale color of his cheekbones. He was biting at his lips until they bled and he was picking at his wrists with long black nails. "Atko,” Link growled, standing up suddenly, "stop hurting yourself." He tried not to demand but did anyway. Many moons ago Link had had a best friend whose biting at her lips and clawing at her nails had progressed to full cutting herself and then eventually she had, ‘done the world a service’ as she phrased it in her last conversation with him.

Which was not to say that all anxiety responses got that bad, but he tried to stop it when he saw it. He couldn't bear losing another friend and potential lover because Link hadn't done anything to try and stop it. As long ago as that incident had been, it still hurt him so he tried not to think about it or over analyze his friends because of it.

Atko met his eyes with a confused look before Link separated his hands and held him tightly. Atko purred quietly and returned the offered embrace. Link was a bit shorter than Atko, standing at only 6 feet tall compared to Atko's 6 and a half feet. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Link said, the best thing he could think of. He wanted to say something but wasn't sure what was best to say.

Atko turned rigid suddenly "You knew too?" His hands dropping from Link’s back

Link looked up at him. "Not really, I kinda wondered about it while we were talking in the hallway but I didn't know until they told you." Atko looked over his friend for a long moment, presumably deciding whether he believed the Hylian boy or not.

Apparently, he decided that he did in fact trust the Hylian boy to tell the truth about this and relaxed again. Link heard the boys heart beat speed up in his chest and could almost feel his stomach doing flips by being this close to Link. Was it just because Link was something of a celebrity or was there more to this reaction? Before anything solid that would definitively say there was more to Atko’s excitement arose, he stepped back away from Link. "I'm so... frustrated with them," Atko admitted finally. "I just want to fight them.”

Link tried not to laugh, "you'll lose against Ganondorf you know that." He pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." Atko made a face, "in Gerudo culture when we disagree with someone we usually challenge them to a duel, battle them sometimes to the death, but usually just until someone goes down. Whoever wins is the one who is determined to be the one in right. Whatever debate they were having the loser has to accept that. For example, Ganondorf fought his mother to prove to her that he was the king and for her to stop smothering him like one would a child."

Link listened to him. He had seen Gerudo infighting before, but hadn’t realized what the system behind it was. "That must be rough for the loser."

Atko shrugged, "not really, we're used to it. That's the point of the fight: to remove any old grudges and start fresh."

"What purpose would it serve you to fight with you-" Link almost said _“your dad”_ but Atko wasn't acknowledging him right now so he figured he shouldn’t either. "Ganondorf. I mean, it's not like he's lying; she’s your mother. Maybe he shouldn't have kept it from you but he can't go back and fix that even if he lost."

Atko snorted, "I guess. I just... I feel like I've been lied to since I was a cub! I mean anytime I asked him about my mother he just got all misty-eyed and said he didn't know."

Link remembered the conversation in the garden. "I genuinely think he didn't know."

Atko was fuming his dark pointed ears flushing red "Well, an apology would be nice!" He said flinging up his arms in frustration.

"You don't need to fight him for one of those. He's probably full of them now." Link replied dog-earring his page and setting the book on his nightstand.

"Stop making sense!" Atko hissed. "I mean what the hell am I gonna do? I can't tell him that I'm gay when’re all this shit is going on, what will he think?"

Link suddenly got an idea. "Let's go for a walk," he suggested. "You sound like you need some air." Atko nodded slowly.

After putting on his shoes, Link stumbled out of his room into the quiet corridors of the palace and Atko followed closely, letting their arms brush against one another as they walked together. Link guided them to the yard that was bathed in moonlight. It was a large quiet field, in one corner was a series of training dummies and opposite it was an archery range, the other half of the field was left clear for sparring and tactics practice. Selecting a wooden sword and shield Link picked a spot on the field waiting for Atko to follow his example. When he did Link flicked his wrist in a ‘you first’ motion, waiting for the young Gerudo to make the first move.

Atko smirked and sprang at him with the agility and strength of Atko's father, Link threw his sword in the way of the incoming flurry of attacks but only just.

Of all the warriors that the Gerudo had, Ganondorf had clearly spent extra time with Atko, perfecting the boy's skills and prowess. He even went so far as to teach him some of the moves that only Ganondorf knew until then. He was always one ready to react to an oncoming threat and his brain working overtime to match Link’s rhythm. Link swung his wooden blade at Atko's belly but the other boy dropped to a crouch faster than Link would have thought possible for someone of that muscular build. The half-Gerudo retaliated with a powerful thrust that slammed into Link's gut and sent the Hylian staggering with a grunt. Had they been using real blades Atko would have just won, securing a painful death for Link. 

Wooden swords on the other hand just knocked the wind out of Link and maybe left a splinter but no permanent damage. "What happened to the legendary swordsman I've heard so much about?" Atko teased lightly.

"I'm out of shape!" Link retorted. It was kind of true he hadn't been grooming himself to battle Ganondorf this lifetime, so while he was in shape physically, he wasn't mentally in any state to be taking on the Demon King himself, let alone any of his proteges.

Atko snorted and rolled his eyes, "You look gr-fine." Atko caught himself but Link saw his skin flush a crimson color that was bathed in a gentle moonlight. Link smiled and butted against the Gerudo affectionately. "Sorry." Atko muttered, "I'm sure you've got a girlfriend or-"

"Hush." Link interrupted, knocking Atko's blade out of his hand and taking the hand in his own as Atko went to return it to his side.

Atko gazed at where their hands held one another and his silver eyes widened as he took it in. "My dad's gonna kill me." He breathed, more to himself than anything.

"Relax." Link instructed. "We'll talk to him about it later."

Atko grinned, "no-no, let's just keep it between us. I want to have something that my dad doesn't know about for once."

Link shrugged. He was okay with that, he supposed. At least they couldn't end up like Ganondorf and Zelda. They couldn't accidentally end up with a child they weren't ready for. The process would be very long and deliberate, not something a couple of lust-driven teenagers could manage in a half-hour. "Your funeral." Link shrugged.

"Naw he'll kill us both." Atko purred, "So let's not tell him and he won't have to find out."

"I don't think that's how that works but alright." Link replied, sitting in the grass waiting for Atko to follow. He gazed up at the full moon overhead, pressing their sides together. Atko didn't let go of the hand he was holding while he sat down with Link, following with his eyes to the star spattered sky.

"You guys have it so pretty out here." Atko mused eventually, "grass, trees, things that are alive. I mean..."

"I always liked Gerudo desert better." Link replied when Atko trailed off. "You guys took the nearly unsurvivable and flourished. It's amazing."

Atko shrugged, "I guess, but once you live in it your whole life it gets boring. Hadn’t met a man that wasn't me or dad before I got here. Now there's almost too many of them."

Link chuckled at that, "well you can have your pick here."

Atko huffed in reply, "I already found him," he replied and then froze, as though he thought he had said something stupid. 

He rolled over so he rested on the taller boy and asked playfully, “you talking about me?" He breathed.

"Maybe," Atko replied narrowing his eyes, trying to read Link's expression.

With a grin, Link leaned over Atko and kissed him.


	13. Ohana

Training was going so much better than Ganondorf would’ve anticipated. Ganondorf had been quite pleased with the progress on everyone's parts. “Straighten your back!” Ganondorf advised a young soldier.

“Why?” The Hylian replied not to be rude but with a genuine question. “I’m just going to duck anyways.”

“Don’t let your opponent know that just by looking at you. Plus you’ll lose your footing if you try to maneuver at all while you go down. The soldier nodded and straightened up all the way. “Teako, try the side flank.” 

The Gerudo woman smirked, the side flank was her signature move. Most Gerudo had one, some even could claim inventing or popularizing their move and Teako was no exception, her reputation as a warrior and teacher had given her more sway over battle strategy, and with about a half-dozen cubs it wasn’t particularly surprising that she had learned an amount of patience. Teako lashed out with the wooden sword, aiming for the Hylian’s abdomen but at the last second twisting like a ballerina and began to bring the sword down towards the Hylians flank. With a calculated expression, the Hylian blocked the faint and twisted out of the way of the second blow. Stumbling a little once he regained his sense of direction thanks to the ensuing dizzy spell.

“Well done!” Ganondorf purred. While no Hylian with the exception of Link mastered the dance-like technique that was key to the Gerudo's strategy, several had gotten quite proficient in at least anticipation of the sudden leaps and twists, if not built to achieve the maneuvers themselves. 

After that had been the rescuing of another village, “I suggest the village of Klapsi,” Teako advised, “the wise woman there will serve well in Hirosmu’s place.”

“I haven’t given up hope on Hirosmu yet.” Ganondorf retorted crossly.

“It is not abandoning her by readying in the event her visions are correct. Have they been incorrect before?”

“Open to interpretation.” Ganondorf replied.

“You’re afraid of facing Klapsi's wisewoman again.” Teako noticed.

“It has been a long time Teako.” 

“People change, my king. You were not the misguided cub you were when you were coronated.” Teako pointed out.

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

*

Upon arriving at the village, he instead of summoning all the citizens to the square to listen to the situation they found themselves in, decided he would pay a visit to this town’s wisewoman first. This village in particular he had no doubt he would need her backing. Klapsi was the Gerudo name for the tribe. Hylians simply called it “Gerudo Town” this tiny village had seen the most of the centuries of violence and its residents would not be happy about the alliance with their generational enemy.

He stood outside the quaint building for a long second. He took a deep breath in before he pushed past the violet silk curtain that hung in the entryway, acting as a door. 

Inside the hut was the examination space. Marked by roofs meant to reflect the night sky, both to put patients at ease and to help the wisewoman ask nature for help while not being exposed to the elements. The rest of the house was a kitchen and dining room set up. The furniture was forged of adobe and softened by more silk, in the opposite corner from the kitchen, behind a big blue curtain lay the overnight patient’s chambers. He couldn’t see past the curtains but he’d seen it enough to know what lay beyond. The wisewoman’s chambers were in the basement, meant to keep her and her supplies cooler than the rest of the house.  


A red-haired woman with dark tan skin was mixing herbs in a mortar and pestle sitting in a washing basin. “I’ll be right over!” She called over her shoulder. Ganondorf opened his mouth to say something but found no words. Finally she turned around and her mouth dropped upon seeing the huge man in her home.

“Gann-” She swallowed as she remembered an agreement they had reached many moons before. “Ganondorf.” She almost smiled at him, her amber eyes misting over.

“Mother.” Ganondorf replied. When mother and son had separated it had not been of the best of terms, Ganondorf and his mother had always had different opinions on how things should be. As far as his mother was concerned, Atko should have been killed as a cub. Both because of him being a half-breed, and because it was bad, bad news if a male was born alive while Ganondorf still lived. But many years had passed since those wounds were dealt. Now mother and son reunited and they stared at one another blankly for a second. 

Silently she approached him and held him tightly, “It’s been so long.” She breathed around a purr. Hirosmu had sent her apprentice to the city of Klapsi about a year or so before Zelda left. So for a little more than sixteen years, Ganondorf had not heard from his mother. Partially by choice and partially because Hirosmu needed her apprentice and her king to not contact one another if it was just going to be arguing. Neither was helpful to the species as a whole that way.

“How have you been?” Ganondorf rumbled returning the embrace, they may not have always gotten along but she was still his mother.

“Well, Hirosmu chose my placement well.” She looked over her son, “You look a little worse for wear.” She commented idely.

“My hair length-” He began,

“No no its more than just that.” His mother replied. “I lost the right to comment on that when you defeated me. You just look… drained, spiritually I mean.”

“I suppose.” Ganondorf replied, forcing his shoulders to relax. She wasn’t picking fights just yet. He swallowed, what was he going to tell her about all the things she had so strongly disagreed with before?

“You’ve been with the Hylian Queen, haven’t you?” She almost asked.

“What?! How did you-”

“I could smell her from a mile away, too… flowery if you ask me.”

“I didn’t.”

His mother ignored his jab. “How many cubs has she littered for you? At least she has not withheld you from your duties to help us with our cub situation.”

Ganondorf flicked his ears as he pondered what to say. “Just Atko.” He replied honestly, “We… haven’t been able to be together much until recently.” It was a half truth.

His mother gazed into his eyes and seemed to pry into his soul in search of the truth. “She will be expecting soon though. Will she not?”

Ganondorf flushed, “Listen can we not talk about this right now?” He shifted on his feet.

“You know that if you want her to stay you should take her on her han-”

“That’s enough mother!” Ganondorf interrupted. “That’s not why I’m here.” She hesitated, like she thought about finishing her thought but didn’t. Waiting patiently for him to continue instead. “I need your help.”

**

Still somewhat tense after his village collection he decided to patrol for a while before he settled with his mate letting the palace residentsfeast as the sun went down.

He had no doubt rumors were beginning to fly about an affair between the Queen of Hyrule and the King of the Desert. Ganondorf found he didn't much care, save perhaps the phrasing of it. It was no affair, he had loved Zelda much too long for it to be labeled an affair. But rumors were rumors.

_What am I going to do? I can't be with Zelda and help everyone at the same time. My friends need me but I've wanted to be back with Zelda for so long... how am I going to get everyone settled before all hell breaks loose? Hair! Get out of my face!_

He had gotten most of the way around the castle before anything captured his attention. Nearing the noble's chambers in the southern wing of the castle he perked his head at the series if broken laughs coming from down the hall a short way off of his patrol route. Ganondorf turned towards the noise and saw nothing but the sunset light bathing the open hallway corridor. Flicking his pointed ears in suppressed anxiety he crept forward, silencing his footfalls so he moved like a ghost even in his heavy plate armor. Finally, his eyes adjusted to the wash of blinding light he saw what was happening under the cover of sunset; Atko and Link were fighting each other?

Link was pinning Atko to the floor only for Atko to wrestle his way back up and grab the Hylian in a headlock and throwing Link to the ground and spring after him. Ganondorf found this peculiar. His son and that cursed boy had been getting along rather well lately, and what of the laughter? Then he saw Atko pin Link into a wall, a playful gleam in his eyes and then he leaned in and kissed Link.

Ganondorf’s eyes widened for a moment at the surprise and then narrow with discontent that settled in the pit of his stomach. He had suspected of course. The boy was his son after all but also...the attraction to men was a strange concept to Ganondorf. But then his world revolved nearly exclusively around reproduction. So it never really occurred to Ganondorf that that was even a thing.

"Atko." He bellowed releasing the spell that lightened his feet and finished thundering down the hall. He was sure by how pale Atko went the boy was not expecting to be found out. Link pushed away from him silently and leaned against the wall a short distance away, gazing cooly at Ganondorf while Atko recovered his bearings.

Link showed no fear despite Ganondorf looking rather angry with this situation he had stumbled in on. But then the Hylian knew full well the anger was not directed at him. Atko on the other hand knew full well it was directed at him and his ears were flat, eyes wide and skin pale, he was petrified. Ganondorf stood tall while he waited for the boy to turn to face him. "Hey.... Ganondorf." Atko squeaked in alarm as he turned around.

"You are to address me for what I am! You are no noble or commoner you are my son." Ganondorf barked. Frustrated with the attitude Atko had been dishing out all day.

"Father." Atko replied with a wicked glint in his tone as he tried to look impressive in front of Link instead of terrified like he was.

Ganondorf snorted and flicked his ears but accepted this answer. "What are you doing out here with Link?"

"Do you want the truth or do you want me to sugarcoat it for you?" Atko sneered.

"You know what I want, boy."

"I was trying to get laid. That make you happy?" Atko rolled his eyes as he answered but Ganondorf didn’t think that was entirely true. Perhaps they had been in the early steps of the seduction process, but certainly not anywhere within the next half-hour close to such a prospect.

Ganondorf huffed. "Why can't we find you a woman? It would be much easier to explain than this mess."

"I don't want a woman!" Atko hissed before backing up a short way and looking at the ground. "I want a man.... I want Link." As uncomfortable as that made Ganondorf, as an individual anyways, he was not going to stop Atko from being happy. If men were Atko's thing the world was his oyster. 

"You're doing this late in an isolated place so I don't find out. Well I know now. I don't care what you do but please. Keep it to the daylight hours. I want to still have a son after this." He rumbled and expected some backlash but found none. Instead Atko's gaze softened.

Ganondorf was surprised when Atko hugged him. "I'm sorry." Atko whispered. "I'm sorry I've been so mad lately... I just have been confused and hurt and-"

"I know." Ganondorf replied gently, pushing the boys hair away from his eyes. "I have been too." Atko managed a weak smile and purred when Ganondorf returned the embrace. When they pulled away Ganondorf straightened and shook himself. "Go to begin to settle for the night." He gazed at Link who looked relieved his hand slowly dropping from the hilt of his blade. "Both of you." Link gazed back at him blankly but his face still showed relief. "Neither of you are good to me dead." He followed playfully. Atko continued to purr and Link even managed a smile. Nodding to both, Ganondorf turned and wandered away back to his patrol route. Halfway down the hall he hesitated and was grateful to hear two sets of footfalls going in the opposite direction.

***

Finally, the sun had set over Hyrule. He had returned from his patrol just in time to usher Zelda to bed, much to her amusement until they reached her chambers.

“Sleep well Zelda.” Ganondorf muttered from the door as he went to leave her to sleep. As he turned he saw her frown in the corner of his eye. He hesitated and waited for her to speak her mind as he was sure she would.  


“You aren’t coming to bed too?” She asked patting the spot beside her.

He shook his head. “I’m restless.” He replied.  
She crooked a finger to beacon him closer as she sat up. After a moment's hesitation he obeyed, coming to sit on the foot of her bed. "You're... so tired, and you've been pulling your hair out... you're stressed out." She mused.  


“Is it really that bad? You’re the second person today to point that out.” He replied dryly. 

He saw her frown in thought but then her gaze softened. "I know you're worried about this battle. We all are. But you're more worried than just that. What does the mighty Warmonger King have to worry about?"

“I could lose the two most important people in my life in less than a week from today.” He replied.

“Like who?” She asked innocently.

“You know exactly who you little-” He couldn't find the words as he replied playfully.

"But Gan, there’s more to it than that." She whispered, now touching his cheek and reflexively he closed his eyes. "War doesn't keep you awake the same way it does me." She continued, "what's bothering you so much that you're patrolling the whole castle after the transport of a whole village?"

!Ganondorf huffed "it's nothing." He tried to lie his way out of it. He didn't want to talk about it.

"I'm you're mate Ganondorf I won't let you lie to me. You can trust me."

"You forfeited my trust when you walked away from me! You weren't there when I needed you most and now you want to pretend like nothing happened?"

Zelda sighed sadly, "I know what I did hurt you. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed your mate but... I'm here now and I think you'd like to have me again."

Ganondorf didn't look at her. Just started at the floor. Of course he wanted his mate back but it was so much more complicated than that. 15 years of pain and frustration was still a very fresh wound to try and work through the hurt with the person who dealt it.

"Let's go to bed." He muttered and he turned to lie down but she had different plans with him.

“Not before I cheer you up.” She almost ordered.

“Good luck.” He replied.

“I don’t need luck.” She sat up and scooted closer to him. His lips curved upwards as she clamored into his lap and gazed at him quietly. She wore a blue nightgown that was only a bit see-through and his eyes wandered to the places where the fabric thinned, she was gorgeous, clothed or otherwise. She pressed her lips against his softly, smiling against him when he let out a soft sigh through his nose, and closed his eyes, returning the kiss.She eased her body against his, tangling her hands in his hair. He grunted as his body, without his permission began to respond to her. Eyes narrowing, ears twitching, nose flaring. Like before, he could hear her heart beating, could smell her desire could feel her soul pulsing so closely to his. Yet despite the enhanced senses of the beast, he remained steady in his true form, his Gerudo form.

He reinitiated the kiss just as gently as she had. Letting her hands travel across the expanse of his chest unhindered save the armor. Said armor was being loosened as she carefully began unclasping his breast plate and guiding it to a place on the floor.

He felt the corners of his mouth beginning to show a grin more despite his attempts to stay agitated. Ganondorf sighed and gave in to her soothing touch. Purring as her fingers traced the bones in his face adoringly. He pressed his head into her collarbone with a ginger anticipation. As though somewhere in the back of his mind she would vanish from atop him.

His arms came up to her sides and he traced his thumbs down the curve of her hips. She kissed him again and took his hands and slid them under the hem that wrapped around her shoulders while she unclasped the heavy plate leg plate he wore while he shed her nightgown from around her shoulders. Warmth filled him and he leaned over he to nip little red spots into her neck and suckle at pressure points until they would surely leave marks in the morning. 

She relieved him of the last pieces of his armor, revealing soft, sleek and yet flexible silk clothing under it. Very much revealing but than he didn't show that bit off during battle. She rocked against him slowly. Making her gasp softly as she discovered more sensitive areas, even through two layers of clothing.

He kissed her, and pushed away the last strands of fabric examining her bare from before him. "You're beautiful." He whispered, touching her cheek.

"And you, handsome."

****

About two hours after that he was still restless. He felt alright now but he couldn't sit still. He kept readjusting next to Zelda who was incredibly patient with this. Shifting, rolling over, tossing, turning the whole package deal and nothing he did could make it stop. Finally, he went to settle next to Zelda again and she rolled onto her back.

She didn't say anything as she reached out and touched his face, but the way she did it left no doubt in his mind she was directing him where to lay down and he trusted that he would finally be comfortable by the time she was done. With this guidance she settled him so he lay beside her. She took and arm and put it over her waist and then rested his head on her chest. Here he could hear her heart beat. Feel her chest compress as she breathed. She stroked his hair rhythmically in a way only a lover could.

Like magic the energy was zapped from him. He smiled as his eyes fluttered closed.

Sleep finally claimed him.


End file.
